Veteran Affairs Privacy and Information Security Laws

By (Name)
The Name of the Class (Course)
Professor (Tutor)
The Name of the School (University)
The City and State
The Date

Laws Violated
The judiciary of the United States has played a significant role in balancing the interests of
security and the person’s right to privacy. This stems from the fact the US constitution and the
Bill of Rights does not embody express provisions that guarantee the right to privacy. However,
Peltz-Steele (2015) contends that the right to privacy of information within the meaning of the
constitution is regarded to be ‘the right to be left alone’. Justice Brandei in Olmstead v. United
States (1928) the right to privacy of information is entrenched in the Fourth Amendment of the
Constitution which provides that people have the right to be secure and this right includes the
right to have their papers, houses, papers and effects to be secure. In addition, the Fourth
Amendment of the constitution provides that the person, his papers, houses and effects must be
secured and the right must not be subjected to unreasonable seizures and searches. In case a
warrant is issued, it must be premised on credible grounds (Cobb, 2016).
Against this backdrop it is prudent to note that the primary legislation that regulates the right to
privacy of information in the United States is the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA). The
right privacy of information is protected under section 5 of the FTCA which prohibits any
individual from engaging in a practice or act that is deceptive of unfair and which will have an
effect on commerce. It is apparent that the FTCA may not expressly provide for the right to
privacy and information security in its dictates. However section 5 of the FTCA has been
interpreted to apply to information security and data privacy.
Information security law in the United States have been brought to force to protect information
that is personally identifiable from access, disclosure or acquisition that is not authorized by the
relevant authority. These laws have also been referred to as data breach laws, it is instructive to
note that these laws have a profound relationship with privacy laws. The Privacy Act of 1974 is
the chief regulation that protects the privacy of information and data. Ideally it regulates the use,
dissemination and collection of any record that has any records about a certain individual and
which is under the custody of the federal agency. However, it is prudent to note that the primary
focus of this study is the United States Veteran affairs privacy and information security laws.
The information and privacy of the veterans is regulated by the Veterans Affairs Information
Security Act (Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006, P.L.
109-461) which by virtue of U.S.C. §§ 5722 imposes an imperative on the veteran administration