The Privacy Act of 1974 places restrictions on the Federal, state and local agencies' use of the Social Security account number as an identifier. For some agencies, compliance will involve changes in implementation of retrieval algorithms. This report describes methodology applicable to these changes in the more general context of the problem of…

To help individuals, groups, and organizations obtain federal government records on themselves and others, this guidebook interprets the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Privacy Act. The acts provide access to government data, personal records, and business information. The guidebook presents the texts of both acts, with…