The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a), enacted in 1974,  established controls over what personal information the Federal government collects and how it uses or discloses that information. The Privacy Act has four basic objectives that the Department of the Interior (DOI) is committed to fulfilling to the greatest extent possible:

1. To restrict disclosure of personally identifiable records maintained by agencies;
2. To grant individuals increased rights of access to agency records maintained on them;
3. To grant individuals the right to seek amendment of agency records maintained on themselves upon a showing that the records are not accurate, relevant, timely, or complete; and
4. To establish a code of "fair information practices" that requires agencies to comply with statutory norms for collection, maintenance, and dissemination of records.

Privacy Policy Contacts: List of Departmental and Bureau/Office Privacy Officers.

Privacy Policy and References: Links to DOI and Federal privacy policies and privacy-related resources.

Privacy Impact Assessments and Guide: The DOI Privacy Impact Assessment Guide assists DOI employees in identifying and addressing information privacy when planning, developing, implementing, and operating agency information management systems that maintain information on individuals.

Public Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs): List of of PIAs for DOI's major investments that contain personally identifiable information.

Privacy Act Notices: A System of Records is a group of any records under the control of any agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other identifier assigned to the individual. The Privacy Act requires each agency to publish notice of its systems of records in the Federal Register. This notice is generally referred to as a system of records notice (SORN).

E-Gov Act Privacy Requirements: A link to OMB Guidance for Implementing the Privacy Provisions of the E-Government Act of 2002.

For questions regarding the Departmental Privacy Program, please contact the Departmental Privacy Officer:
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
MS-7456
Washington, D.C. 20240
202-208-1605