The basic principles of the 1973 U.S. Department of Health, Education & Welfare (HEW) Code are as follows:

1. There must be no personal data record-keeping systems whose very existence is secret;

2. There must be a way for an individual to find out what information is in his or her file and how the information is being used;

3. There must be a way for an individual to correct information in his or her records;

4. Any organization creating, maintaining, using, or disseminating records of personally identifiable information must assure the reliability of the data for its intended use and must take precautions to prevent misuse; and

5. There must be a way for an individual to prevent personal information obtained for one purpose from being used for another purpose without his or her consent.

Next set of Fair Information Practices: PPSC Fair Information Practices

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