Congress Passes Federal Privacy Act
The Privacy Act of 1974 prohibits the disclosure of personal information by any federal agency without the written consent of the individual, gives individuals the right of access to their own files, and the right to add information if they disagree with information contained in the file.
The records of students in any educational institution that received federal funds are also private, and students have a right to inspect their personal files and either demand the removal of false information or be allowed to add their own statement replying to any objectionable material. These rights are embodied in the Federal Educational and Privacy Act (FERPA), enacted in August 1974.
The 1974 Federal Privacy Act law was the first significant privacy act passed by Congress, and reflected the new public concern about protecting individual privacy regarding government files. President Gerald Ford signed the act into law on January 1, 1975.
The law: “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 . . .”
Learn more about your right to privacy from the ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/your-right-privacy
Read about the history of privacy: Sarah Igo, The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America (2020)
Learn more at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse: https://www.privacyrights.org/