While recently helping some agencies update their Privacy Act systems of record notices, I discovered a potential problem with disclosing personal records on the Internet. I also found a solution. A brief word on the legal background. The maintenance of such audit trails is supposed to protect privacy by deterring wrongful disclosures and by allowing the tracing of any record sharing. Unfortunately it doesn't work very well in the real world.
Many federal workers are simply unaware of the accounting requirement.
Another problem with audit trails is that there is apparently little demand for them from record subjects. Ask around your agency and see if you don't get blank stares. Public data included The accounting requirement applies even when an agency discloses a wholly public record, such as an agency telephone book. Increasingly, agencies allow the public to use telephone books and similar resources on the Internet. Ethics reports and other similar filings are also public.