What is the Privacy Act and how does it apply to me?
The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 USC 552a applies to all individuals who handle personal information which belongs to another individual. Personal information includes any item, collection, or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by an agency, including, but not limited to, his education, financial transactions, medical history, and criminal or employment history and that contains his name, or the identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual, such as a finger or voice print or a photograph . Civil penalties of $5,000 per instance may be levied against an individual by a federal court for unauthorized disclosure of personal information.
