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Federal Regulation Essay

890 Words4 Pages

The advent of commercially available Internet access in the early 1990’s created a world in which interconnected network systems changed from being a convenience to being an absolute necessity. According to a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center, nearly 87% of Americans utilize the Internet in their daily lives. (Fox and Rainie, 2014) The Internet has permeated many areas of society by allowing users to conduct business and communicate on a global scale. However, this reliance on technology has also created a situation in which personal information, collected by different servers, can be compromised if it is not properly secured. Federal regulation and oversight is required to ensure those responsible for storing sensitive information take appropriate measures to secure the data and report any breaches in a timely manner. Collection and storage of personal information is not a concept that is unique to the Internet. The United States Government has been collecting personally identifiable information, such as Names, Addresses, Social Security Numbers for many years. However, it wasn’t until 1974 that Congress passed legislation designed to enforce the proper handling of that data. The Privacy Act of 1974 regulates how the federal government collects, stores, and protects personal …show more content…

Instead, 47 states have enacted local laws to address the lack of federal guidance on reporting and notification of data breaches. For example, Connecticut law states that the vicitm be notified within five days of a data breach, whereas Deleware law specifies that the victim be notified as soon as possible. (NSCL.org, 2015) Discrepencies also exist between the states regarding the classification of what information is considered personally identifiable

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