To better serve the American people, federal agencies are using advanced technologies in new and exciting ways, some of which involve innovative uses of personally identifiable information (PII).
While such innovations bring clear benefits—stronger cybersecurity and more personalized healthcare, for example—agencies have a duty to proceed with caution where PII is involved. They need to ensure that it's used ethically, and in a way that does not risk public trust in essential government services.
The Federal Government's use of PII is still largely governed by the Privacy Act of 1974. Decades into the 21st century, the Act is no longer equipped to serve as the only mechanism for regulating novel PII usage and ensuring that individual privacy is protected.
Read Ethical Data Use-Enabling Trust and Ensuring Individual Privacy to learn:
- Privacy principles that form the framework for ethical data use
- Risks that unethical data use presents to the government and individuals
- Examples of federal initiatives showing a commitment to balancing privacy with innovation
