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General: This
section is a brief primer on these well-known but perhaps little-understood
laws. You may not need a complete understanding of the complexities of these
two laws in order to use them. If you need more than what you see below,
consider visiting your closest law library to read the texts of the laws, their
interpretations, and case law. To see just the laws themselves, without
commentary, please use the links in the following paragraphs.
What’s the
difference between the two laws?
In brief, the
Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) and the
Electronic
Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996 offer you a chance to obtain
a copy of a record maintained by a Federal agency, a record that could be
obtained by any other member of the public making a similar request, and - thus
- a record that does not contain any information on individuals. In general,
you use this law to ask for copies of reports on specific matters or for
compilations of records on a particular subject.
In contrast, the Privacy Act offers
you a chance to request, review, and ask for corrections in Federal records
that are about you. No one else can ask for these records and you may not
request someone else’s material. A common use of this act is therefore by
people who are curious about what records the various Federal law enforcement
agencies may have on them.
OK, how are they
alike?
Both laws afford you
the opportunity ask for records maintained by the Executive Branch of the
Federal Government only. In other words, records held by departments or
independent agencies are covered by the laws, but not Congressional or court
records. Records of States, which may have their own similarly-named laws, are
not covered under these acts. Neither are records of private entities, although
some of their records may be covered by other Federal and State
statutes.
Also, before filing a
request under either law, you must first identify the agency that is most
likely to have the material. There is, alas, no central point to which these
requests may be addressed. This is perhaps the most important issue, and the
one for which there is no easy answer. If you’re not sure - and most
people aren’t - you may consult a reference librarian or talk to our
National Contact Center by calling toll-free
1 (800) FED INFO.
So, how do I
proceed?
If you are requesting
records that may be available under the FOIA, you should first talk to the
agency that you believe has the material. In many cases, the agencies make the
information available free of charge or sell it through the Government Printing
Office, the National Technical Information Service, or private sources. [You
might want to see Government Publications for
more guidance.] If the material is not sold or distributed free of charge, some
agencies have no problem agreeing to give you something. Other agencies may
insist that you must file a request through the agency’s FOIA office in
order for you them to grant access to a document or to create a file for
you.
If you are requesting
a file under the Privacy Act, you will nearly always have to make a request in
writing and may have to provide additional proof of identity. This kind of
procedure is designed to protect you from having personal information disclosed
to anyone else.
Is there any
written guidance?
The General Services
Administration and the Department of Justice jointly publish "Your Right to
Federal Records." You may request a paper copy by calling our National Contact
Center toll-free
1 (800) FED INFO, or you may view it and/or download it by visiting the
Federal Citizen Information Center web
site. Both a
text
version and an
HTML
version are available.
Reviewed:
August 4, 2004
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