Cybersecurity Policy Report, Pre-Internet Privacy Act Needs Reassessment, Lawmaker Says, (Mar 18, 2025)
An effort to update the foundational U.S. privacy law, the Privacy Act of 1974, to account for modern technology and new ways that data is collected and shared was launched today by Rep. Lori Trahan (D., Mass.).
Rep. Trahan has begun her effort by distributing a request for information (RFI) seeking input on ways the Privacy Act could be updated for the 21st century.
“The Privacy Act of 1974 was enacted in response to growing concerns about government surveillance and the misuse of personal information, particularly following the Watergate scandal,” Rep. Trahan noted in a news release.
“The law establishes safeguards for how federal agencies collect, maintain, and disclose personal records. It also grants individuals the right to access and amend their records held by federal agencies and restricts unauthorized disclosure of personal information,” she explained.
The law has been supplemented over the years by new legislation and presidential directives, but it still remains the central law governing federal agencies’ handling of personal data, she observed.
One of her motivations for launching the effort now, Rep. Trahan suggested, is the activity of the White House Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been reviewing government systems in search of waste and fraud in ways that have raised questions about data privacy and security.
“Over the past two months, the Trump administration has allowed Elon Musk and ‘Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’ staff to access Americans’ most sensitive data, including through the Treasury Department’s payment system, federal employee personnel records, student loan borrowers’ information, and disaster victims’ claims for emergency assistance,” she said.
DOGE’s activities have been challenged in at least eight federal lawsuits that allege Privacy Act violations, but the Privacy Act alone might be insufficient to address potential privacy violations, she said.
“The combination of challenges stemming from unchecked government officials and significant technological advances warrant a reevaluation of the Privacy Act of 1974 and related laws governing privacy and federal information technology,” she said.
Rep. Trahan’s RFI requests feedback from “civil society groups, privacy experts, current and recently terminated government technologists, and concerned Americans, including organizations like businesses and nonprofits.”
It poses a series of questions about existing privacy laws, gaps in those laws, and potential reforms.
It asks, for example, about “the unique privacy risks created by the government's use of artificial intelligence.”
It asks whether legislation should be enacted to strengthen a Privacy Act provision “that requires agencies to maintain ‘only such information about an individual as is relevant and necessary to accomplish a purpose of the agency,’ or data minimization.”
It also asks whether existing Privacy Act provisions empowering individuals to access federal government data about them and to request corrections should be supplemented with a right to request deletion of their personal information.
Responses to the RFI are due by April 30 and should be submitted to PrivacyActRFI@mail.house.gov.
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