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Information Quality Guidelines

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Guidelines

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Integrity refers to the security or protection of information from unauthorized access or revision. Integrity ensures that the information is not compromised through corruption or falsification.

The Department strives to protect the information it collects, uses, and disseminates to the public from unauthorized disclosure, alteration, loss, or destruction. Statutory and administrative guidelines to protect the integrity of Department information include the following:

  • Privacy Act;
  • Freedom of Information Act;
  • OMB Circulars A-123, A-127, and A-130;
  • Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects;
  • Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act;
  • Computer Security Act of 1987;
  • Government Information Security Reform Act; and
  • National Education Statistics Act, as amended by the USA Patriot Act.

Under the Privacy Act, the Department safeguards personally identifiable information that it gathers and maintains about individuals in a system of records. The Department is also highly protective of administrative records and sample survey data that include personally identifiable information, especially survey data that are collected under pledges of confidentiality.

Under the Computer Security Act of 1987, the Department of Education has identified all federal computer systems that contain sensitive information and has implemented security plans to protect these systems, so as to protect sensitive information against loss, misuse, disclosure or modification. In this context, sensitive information includes data covered under the Privacy Act and information that could affect the conduct of federal programs.

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Last Modified: 10/17/2005