Karl Auerbach on Nostr: I am rather glad to see the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 USC 552a) being used. First - ...
I am rather glad to see the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 USC 552a) being used.
First - please do not conflate the Privacy Act (PA) with FOIA which has an almost identical number in the US Code (5 USC 552)
Second - the Privacy Act can be a significantly more powerful tool than FOIA when dealing with information about yourself.
Third - Agencies try to pretend that a PA request is a FOIA request - do not let agencies do this; hold their feet to the fire. (And PA does have direct penalties that can be levied on offending gov't officials.)
Fourth - If you do file a PA and FOIA - do it as separate requests in order to block agencies conflating things.
I helped assemble PA - I actually got to work a bit with Senator Ervin; that was pretty heady stuff for a first year law student. And I helped write a handbook to help agencies comply.
First - please do not conflate the Privacy Act (PA) with FOIA which has an almost identical number in the US Code (5 USC 552)
Second - the Privacy Act can be a significantly more powerful tool than FOIA when dealing with information about yourself.
Third - Agencies try to pretend that a PA request is a FOIA request - do not let agencies do this; hold their feet to the fire. (And PA does have direct penalties that can be levied on offending gov't officials.)
Fourth - If you do file a PA and FOIA - do it as separate requests in order to block agencies conflating things.
I helped assemble PA - I actually got to work a bit with Senator Ervin; that was pretty heady stuff for a first year law student. And I helped write a handbook to help agencies comply.