Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPPA) - The first-ever federal privacy standards to protect patients' medical records and other health information provided to health plans, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers took effect on April 14, 2003. Developed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), these new standards provide patients more control over how their personal health information is used and disclosed.

Gramm Leach Bliley Act (GLBA) - also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, provides limited privacy protections against the sale of your private financial information. Financial institutions, whether they wish to disclose your personal information or not, must develop precautions to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer records and information, to protect against any anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of such records, and to protect against unauthorized access to or use of such records or information which could result in substantial harm or inconvenience to any customer.

Privacy Act of 1974 - § 552a - establishes a Code of Fair Information Practice that governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of personally identifiable information about individuals that is maintained in systems of records by federal agencies. The Act provides individuals with a means by which to seek access to and amendment of their records, and sets forth various agency record-keeping requirements.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) - The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) - The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, also known as the FACT Act, was signed into law on December 4, 2003. The Act contains a number of provisions intended to combat identity theft and consumer fraud and related crimes. The act requires the destruction of papers containing consumer information. This law binds virtually every business or organization.

The Texas Information Disposal Act, House Bill 698 (HB 698) - amends the Texas Business and Commerce. Code adding document retention and disposal requirements. Specifically, it requires that business records containing personal identifying information be shredded, erased or destroyed by other means prior to disposal.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 - Also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002. Among the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s major provisions in one that includes a requirement those public companies evaluate and disclose the effectiveness of their internal controls. It is generally this requirement that gives attention to the need for companies to have detailed information control systems – including secure disposal of obsolete business records.