Privacy Law Attorney
Privacy Law
Privacy Law, the right of privacy is largely protected by state common or statutory law. Only about half the states have distinctly recognized a right of privacy. Of these, many do not recognize a right by that name but protect it as part of the right of privacy. The Restatement Second of Torts recognizes four types of invasions of privacy: intrusion, appropriation of name or likeness, unreasonable publicity and false light. Under the Restatements formulation, the invasion of the right of privacy is most similar to the unauthorized appropriation of ones name or likeness.
Provisions of the Privacy Act
Conditions of Disclosure
The Privacy Act states in part:
No agency shall disclose any record which is contained in a system of records by any means of communication to any person, or to another agency, except pursuant to a written request by, or with the prior written consent of, the individual to whom the record pertains.
There are specific exceptions for the record allowing the use of personal records:
- For statistical purposes by the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics
- For routine uses within a U.S. government agency
- For archival purposes "as a record which has sufficient historical or other value to warrant its continued preservation by the United States Government"
- For law enforcement purposes
- For congressional investigations
- Other administrative purposes
The Privacy Act mandates that each United States Government agency have in place an administrative and physical security system to prevent the unauthorized release of personal records.
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