Agencies' Implementation of and Compliance With the Privacy Act Can Be Improved

The Privacy Act of 1974 provides certain safeguards to individuals against invasion of privacy by requiring federal agencies to establish rules and procedures for maintaining and protecting personal data in agency record systems. As of December 31, 1976, federal agencies had 6,753 systems of records which contained 3.85 billion records about individuals and operating costs relevant to the act for the year ended September 30, 1976, were an estimated $36.6 million.