their interpretation of the Fourth Amendment to include protections against wiretapping and other invasions of privacy.
The Privacy Act of 1974 is perhaps the most significant piece of privacy legislation restricting the way the federal government may deal with private information about individual citizens. It severely limits the ability of federal government agencies to disclose private information to other people or agencies without the prior written consent of the affected individuals. It does provide for exceptions involving the census, law enforcement, the National Archives, health and safety, and court orders.
Privacy Act of 1974 The Privacy Act mandates that agencies maintain only the records that are necessary for conducting their business and that they destroy those records when they are no longer needed for a legitimate function of government. It provides a formal procedure for individuals to gain access to records the government maintains about them and to request that incorrect records be amended.The Privacy Act of 1974 applies only to government agencies. Many people misunderstand this law and believe that it applies to how companies and other organizations handle sensitive personal information, but that is not the case.
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) makes it a crime to invade the electronic privacy of an individual. This act broadened the Federal Wiretap Act, which previously covered communications traveling via a physical wire, to apply to any illegal interception of electronic communications or to the intentional, unauthorized access of electronically stored data. It prohibits the interception or disclosure of electronic communication and defines those situations in which disclosure is legal. It protects against the monitoring of email and voicemail communications and prevents providers of those services from making unauthorized disclosures of their content.One of the most notable provisions of the ECPA is that it makes it illegal to monitor mobile telephone conversations. In fact, such monitoring is punishable by a fine of up to $500 and a prison term of up to five years.
Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) of 1994 The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) of 1994 amended the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. CALEA requires all communications carriers to make wiretaps possible for law enforcement with an appropriate court order, regardless of the technology in use.
Economic Espionage Act of 1996 The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 extends the definition of property to include proprietary economic information so that the theft of this information can be considered industrial or corporate espionage. This changed the legal definition of theft so that it was no longer restricted by physical constraints.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which made numerous changes to the laws governing health insurance and health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Among the provisions of HIPAA are privacy and security regulations requiring strict security measures for hospitals, physicians, insurance companies, and other organizations that process or store private medical information about individuals.HIPAA also clearly defines the rights of individuals who are the subject of medical records and requires organizations that maintain such records to disclose these rights in writing.The HIPAA privacy and security regulations are quite complex. You should be familiar with the broad intentions of the act, as described here. If you work in the healthcare industry, consider devoting time to an in-depth study of this law's provisions.
Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 In 2009, Congress amended HIPAA by passing the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. This law updated many of HIPAA's privacy and security requirements and was implemented through the HIPAA Omnibus Rule in 2013.
One of the changes mandated by the new regulations is a change in the way the law treats business associates, which are organizations that handle protected health information (PHI) on behalf of a HIPAA-covered entity. Any relationship between a covered entity and a business associate must be governed by a written contract known as a business associate agreement (BAA). Under the new regulation, business associates are directly subject to HIPAA and HIPAA enforcement actions in the same manner as a covered entity.
HITECH also introduced new data breach notification requirements. Under the HITECH Breach Notification Rule, HIPAA-covered entities that experience a data breach must notify affected individuals of the breach and must also notify both the secretary of health and human services and the media when the breach affects more than 500 individuals.
Data Breach Notification Laws
HITECH's data breach notification rule is unique in that it is a federal law mandating the notification of affected individuals. Outside of this requirement for healthcare records, data breach notification requirements vary widely from state to state.
In 2002, California passed SB 1386 and became the first state to immediately disclose to individuals the known or suspected breach of personally identifiable information. This includes unencrypted copies of a person's name in conjunction with any of the following information:
Social Security number
Driver's license number
State identification card number
Credit or debit card number
Bank account number in conjunction with the security code, access code, or password that would permit access to the account
Medical records
Health insurance information
In the years following SB 1386, other states passed similar laws modeled on the California data breach notification law. In 2018, 16 years after the passage of SB 1386, Alabama and South Dakota became the last two states to pass data breach notification laws.
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 In April 2000, provisions of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) became the law of the land in the United States. COPPA makes a series of demands on websites that cater to children or knowingly collect information from children.Websites must have a privacy notice that clearly states the types of information they collect and what it's used for, including whether any information is disclosed to third parties. The privacy notice must also include contact information for the operators of the site.Parents must be provided with the opportunity to review any information collected from their children and permanently delete it from the site's records.Parents must give verifiable consent to the collection of information about children younger than the age of 13 prior to any such collection. Exceptions in the law allow websites to collect minimal information solely for the purpose of obtaining such parental consent.
Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999 Until the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (GLBA) became law in 1999, there were strict governmental barriers between financial institutions. Banks, insurance companies, and credit providers were severely limited in the services they could provide and the information they could share with each other. GLBA somewhat relaxed the regulations concerning the services each organization could provide. When Congress passed this law, it realized that this increased latitude could have far-reaching privacy implications. Because of this concern,
