The need for an American privacy protection commission

The article argues that the Privacy Act of 1974 requires revision during the 1980s to reflect more fully the challenges posed to personal privacy by new forms or applications of information technology. The revised Privacy Act should establish a permanent mechanism for the articulation of privacy interests at the federal level in the form of the kind of Privacy Protection Commission originally proposed in the Senate version of the Privacy Act of 1974. The appropriate characteristics of such a regulatory mechanism, and the consequences of not having such an agency at present, are discussed.