I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 184
To amend the privacy provisions of title 5, United States Code, to improve
the protection of individual information and to reestablish a permanent
Privacy Protection Commission as an independent entity in the Federal
Government, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 4, 1995
Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight
A BILL
To amend the privacy provisions of title 5, United States
Code, to improve the protection of individual information
and to reestablish a permanent Privacy Protection Com-
mission as an independent entity in the Federal Govern-
ment, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be referred to as the ‘‘Individual Pri-
vacy Protection Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
The Congress hereby finds that—
(1) recent advances in information and tele-
communications technologies have rapidly expanded
the collection of personal data on individuals, and
improved the speed and access with which such data
can be retrieved and disseminated;
(2) the increased use of these technologies and
their related systems, channels, and services has se-
rious implications for injury to individual privacy
that can occur from any collection, maintenance,
use, or dissemination of personal information;
(3) neither existing privacy legislation nor the
Communications Act of 1934 provides for the peri-
odic assessment and evaluation of personal privacy
implications regarding data information maintained,
transmitted, or accessed via computer cable, broad-
cast, common carrier, or related new technologies;
(4) the right to privacy is a personal and fun-
damental right protected by the Constitution of the
United States; and
(5) in order to determine the extent to which
the privacy of individuals identified in information
systems maintained by or accessed via cable, broad-
cast, common carrier, and related new technologies
is protected, it is necessary and proper for the Con-
gress to require the collection and evaluation of data
relevant to this purpose.
SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF SYSTEM OF RECORDS.
Section 552a(a)(5) of title 5, United States Code, is
amended to read as follows:
‘‘(5) the term ‘system of records’ means a
group of any records under the control of any agen-
cy in which individual records are—
‘‘(A)(i) systematically filed, stored, or oth-
erwise maintained according to an established
retrieval scheme or indexing structure; and
‘‘(ii) in practice, accessed by use of, or by
reference to, such retrieval scheme or indexing
structure for the principal purpose of retrieving
the record (or any portion thereof) on the basis
of the identity of, or so as to identify, an indi-
vidual; or
‘‘(B) otherwise readily accessible because—
‘‘(i) the agency is able to access the
record without an unreasonable expendi-
ture of time, money, effort, or other re-
sources; or
‘‘(ii) the individual to whom a record
pertains is able to provide sufficiently spe-
cific locating information so as to render