Digital Government and Individual Privacy

Abstract

Individual privacy is freedom from excessive intrusion by those seeking personal information about the individual. This allows the individual to choose the extent and circumstances under which personal information will be shared with others. A related concept, confidentiality, is a status accorded to information based on a decision, agreement, obligation, or duty. This status requires that the recipient of personal information must control disclosure. While privacy and confidentiality are concepts that can be applied to people in all societies, this article discusses them in relation to their treatment by the United States government, in particular with the advent of digital government. The concepts associated with digital government can also apply to non-Americans as well, but the discussion in this article is based on U.S. laws, documents, and relevant literature.