Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
7337570
label
President's Statement on Signing S. 3418, the Privacy Act of 1974 [Signing Statements and Announcements]
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
7337570
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
President's Statement on Signing S. 3418, the Privacy Act of 1974 [Signing Statements and Announcements]
citationUrl
collections
White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
subjects
U.S. Senate. (03/04/1789 - )
Legislation
largeImageUrl
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
7337570
levelOfDescription
item
productionDates
day
1
logicalDate
1975-01-01
month
1
year
1975
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
28ad3d68d9d19531
ocrText
Digitized from Box 6 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 1, 1975
Office of the White House Press Secretary
(Vail, Colorado)
THE WHITE HOUSE
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
The Privacy Act of 1974, S. 3418, represents an initial advance in
protecting a right precious to every American-- the right of individual
privacy.
I am especially happy to have signed this bill because of my own personal
concern in the privacy issue. As Chairman of the Domestic Council
Committee on the Right of Privacy, I became increasingly aware of the
vital need to provide adequate and uniform privacy safeguards for the vast
amounts of personal information collected, recorded and used in our
complex society. It was my objective then, as it is today, to seek, first,
opportunities to set the Federal house in order before prescribing remedies
for State and local government and the private sector.
The Privacy Act of 1974 signified an historic beginning by codifying funda-
mental principles to safeguard personal privacy in the collection and
handling of recorded personal information by Federal agencies. This bill,
for the most part, strikes a reasonable balance between the right of the
individual to be left alone and the interest of society in open government,
national defense, foreign policy, law enforcement and a high quality and
trustworthy Federal work force.
No bill of this scope and complexity particularly initial legislation of this
type can be completely free of imperfections. While I am pleased that
the Commission created by this law has been limited to purely advisory
functions, I am disappointed that the provisions for disclosure of personal
information by agencies make no substantive change in the current law.
The latter in my opinion does not adequately protect the individual against
unnecessary disclosures of personal information.
I want to congratulate the Congressional sponsors of this legislation and
their staffs who have forged a strong bipartisan constituency in the interest
of protecting the right of individual privacy. Experience under this
legislation, as well as further exploration of the complexities of the issue,
will no doubt lead to continuing Legislative and Executive efforts to reassess
the proper balance between the privacy interests of the individual and those
of society. I look forward to a continuation of the same spirit of bipartisan
cooperation in the years ahead.
My Administration will act aggressively to protect the right of privacy for
every American, and I call on the full support of all Federal personnel in
implementing requirements of this legislation.
#
#