AL-PDPA
Alabama Personal Data Protection Act
Alabama Attorney General
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Privacy Act of 1974 is part of the United States sectoral privacy framework. It should be applied to the covered actor, record, communication, service or practice identified by the statute rather than treated as a general law for all personal data.
Effective status: September 27, 1975, as amended
Citation: 5 U.S.C. s. 552a
Source basis: Current 5 U.S.C. section 552a and official Department of Justice Privacy Act guidance.
The Privacy Act governs federal agency systems of records from which information is retrieved by an individual identifier. It generally does not impose direct duties on ordinary private-sector businesses, although contractors operating a system of records may be subject to specified provisions.
Covered agencies must publish system notices, collect relevant and necessary information, provide Privacy Act statements, maintain accuracy, restrict disclosure unless an exception applies, account for disclosures, provide access and amendment rights and maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards.
Maintain an evidence-based applicability decision, identify the systems and records within scope, assign owners, configure access and disclosure controls, document legal bases and exceptions, train relevant staff and retain the records needed to demonstrate compliance.
Do not use the Privacy Act as a generic US private-sector privacy law. Applicability turns on federal agency status, a system of records and retrieval by identifier, plus any statutory contractor clause.
Individuals may bring specified civil actions against federal agencies, and the statute includes criminal misdemeanor provisions for certain willful conduct. The Department of Justice Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties publishes government-wide guidance.
Map this law to specific products, records, communications and teams. Verify current statutory and regulatory text before relying on an exception, consent, permissible purpose or enforcement assumption.
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