Privacy Act for dummies: Use of statement sometimes required Published April 3, 2009 By Cindy Bonnell 90th Communications Squadron F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. -- Now that I've got your attention, here is some guidance on how to use the Privacy Act. You're probably thinking, "I live in the computer age so how is an act that was around before Bill Gates found a window going to help me?" Well, do you know what it protects? Do you know what is releasable and what is not? In a nutshell, here are some do's and don'ts. First, refer to Air Force Instruction 33-332, Air Force Privacy Act Program, for administering this program within your organization. Now, just think about how much of this information you give out on social networking Web sites. You may certainly divulge this information about yourself, but the Privacy Act protects you from others releasing this information without proper authority. You need to be especially careful when sending Privacy Act material electronically or storing it on your computer. When sending electronically, be sure personal information is protected from unauthorized disclosure, loss and alteration. Encrypting the message is one way to do this. The transmission of personal information over e-mail assumes the message is for official use, so you must also add "FOUO" to the beginning of the subject line and begin the e-mail with the following statement: "This e-mail contains FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY (FOUO) information which must be protected under the Privacy Act and AFI 33-332." Don't use this statement indiscriminately ... just when its necessary to warn recipients the message contains someone's protected personal information. Unless each member in a workflow box or group e-mail account has a need to know, don't send an e-mail that contains protected personal information; instead, send it to the individuals who are authorized to receive it. Additionally, don't store Privacy Act material on your computer or network-shared drives unless it's also protected from unauthorized disclosure, loss and alteration. Remember, the Privacy Act only works if we all protect each other. If you have any questions, call Cindy Bonnell, base Privacy Act manager at 773-2149.