Provides that any person has the right to request access to federal agency records or information except to the extent the records are protected from disclosure by any of nine exemptions contained in the law or by one of three special law enforcement record exclusions.

The Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 As Amended By Public Law No. 110-175, 121 Stat. 2524 [<1.0 MB]

Full Text of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 (Public Law No. 114-185)

Provides privacy protections for records containing information about individuals (i.e., citizen and legal permanent resident) that are collected and maintained by the federal government and are retrieved by a personal identifier. The Act provides safeguards against invasion of personal privacy through the misuse of records by Federal Agencies and requires agencies to safeguard information contained in a system of records.

Privacy Act of 1974

Requires agencies to develop, document, and implement an agency-wide program to provide information security for the information and information systems that support the operations and assets of an agency.

Public Law 113–283: Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 [<1.0 MB]

Establishes criminal penalties for the unauthorized disclosure of certain confidential business information.

18 U.S.C. §1905. Disclosure of confidential information generally

Designed to reduce the public’s burden of answering unnecessary, duplicative, and burdensome government surveys.

Public Law 104–13: Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 [<1.0 MB]

Requires each agency to review their existing significant regulations, and consider how best to promote retrospective analysis of rules that may be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome, and to modify, streamline, expand, or repeal them in accordance with what has been learned.

Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review

Requires agencies to develop and implement a customer service plan and publish the plan on the Open Government web page.

Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service

Requires regular reporting on agency efforts to streamline, improve, and eliminate regulatory requirements.

Identifying and Reducing Regulatory Burdens

Established the initial OMB Open Government Working Group meetings which invited Department/Agenies to join the Open and Innovative Government Community which would be conducted as a collaborative, interagency process.

Transparency and Open Government [1.0 MB]

Requires agencies to publish government information online, improve the quality of government information, create and institutionalize a culture of Open Government, and create an enabling policy framework for Open Government.

Open Government Directive [<1.0 MB]

Establishes new procedures and provides updated guidance and requirements for agency use of web measurement and customization technologies.

Guidance for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization Technologies [<1.0 MB]

Assigns the responsibility to implement the principles of transparency and open government as set forth in the Presidential memorandum of January 21, 2010 and OMB memorandum number M-10-06, "Open Government Directive," as a mission of the CFO/ASA. It provides that the Chief Privacy Officer and Director of Open Government shall oversee Department-wide implementation of the principles of transparency and open government.

Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration

Prescribes the functions and organization of the Office of Privacy and Open Government.

Chief Privacy Officer and Director of Open Government

Identifies the roles and responsibilities of open government team members and the integration of open government efforts and initiatives. It also outlines the integration of repeatable processes for the publishing of the Open Government Plan (the Plan), updates to the Department’s Open Government website, and integration of Commerce Bureau/Operating Units (BOU) open government efforts to develop standardized processes and best practices.

Open Government Plan [4.5 MB]

Privacy Times is the leading provider of Expert Witness and Expert Consulting services regarding the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), credit reporting and credit scoring, data breaches – and all matters relating to the privacy of financial and other consumer information.

Privacy Times website