Richard Nixon had resigned, and Congress had just learned that he used agencies such as the IRS and the FBI against his political foes. Lawmakers feared that huge government databases could become tools of oppression. In 1974 they passed the Privacy Act.
The rule it set was simple. Federal agencies could not hold or share a person’s personal information, names and Social Security numbers among it, without that person’s consent, unless the case fit a narrow list of exceptions. Americans could look at their own records, fix errors and sue if the government got something wrong.
The DOGE lawsuits
In early 2025 the law was being tested again. President Trump signed an executive order in January creating the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, to cut government waste. Elon Musk’s team ran the effort. Lawsuits soon piled up accusing DOGE of violating the 1974 act in its drive to reach federal databases.
One example cited was an alleged handoff of data by the Office of Personnel Management. The accusations were just that, allegations awaiting proof.
Fines from a different era
Captain Compliance, a privacy compliance firm, wrote that the 1974 Congress could not have pictured AI that gathers data at scale or breaches that expose millions of records in a blink. By its account, the penalties show their age. Willful violations of the Privacy Act carry misdemeanor fines of up to $5,000, while Europe’s GDPR can impose fines of 20 million euros.
The firm said the act’s central idea, that personal information deserves protection, still shows up in modern frameworks. It added that if the allegations against DOGE were proven, they could prompt calls to update the law.
