The Privacy Act of 1974 is supposed to provide guardrails for when and how personal data is handled and shared by the U.S. federal government. But did you know federal agencies can disclose your personal information to more people, for more reasons than you may have imagined when you gave it to them? And agencies don’t have to tell you directly, get your consent first, or stop the practice if you object.
APDU created a set of resources to help policymakers, researchers, advocates, and the public better understand the mechanics of the Privacy Act and how the federal government manages and discloses personal information.
The “routine use” exception in the Privacy Act allows agencies to create new reasons why they can share your data with other entities, so long as the reason is “compatible” with the original reason that they collected the data (a complex standard that can be stretched to include many unexpected disclosures). The process for learning about these new or changing routine uses is unwieldy—meaning many Americans may be alarmed to find that their data is being shared for purposes they are not aware of.
Join us to learn what this legal loophole is and how federal agencies can use it.
This training will be led by Maya Bernstein and Bethanne Barnes and moderated by Amy O’Hara.