LEGISLATURE: PRIVACY STUDY COMMISSION
An Inventory of Its Records at the Minnesota Historical Society
Government Records
OVERVIEW
| Creator: | Minnesota. Legislature. Joint House-Senate Privacy Study Commission. | |
| Title: | Records. | |
| Dates: | 1971-1978. | |
| Language: | Materials in English. | |
| Abstract: | Minutes, correspondence, final report, and background materials of this legislative commission created to conduct a study and investigation of all data on individuals collected, stored, used, or disseminated in the state of Minnesota by either public or private entities. The majority of the records seem to have been kept by commission member Senator Robert J. Tennessen. | |
| Quantity: | 2.6 cubic feet (2 boxes and 1 partial box). | |
| Location: | See Detailed Description for shelf locations. |
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
The background materials include newspaper clippings; privacy legislation, both proposed and final; press releases; speeches; and correspondence, forms, reports, procedural documents, and testimony generated by various public and private entities and collected by the commission. The latter include the state departments of administration, criminal justice, public safety (particularly the motor vehicles division), and public welfare; the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension; and the University of Minnesota. Major topics covered include the practice of selling lists of names compiled by government agencies to private businesses for mailing list purposes; the information practices of public welfare, educational, and criminal justice agencies; and several problems found in privacy legislation in general, including ambiguities in the definition of "individual," the "necessity requirement" (what data is it really necessary to collect), and the classification structure (what data should be classified public, private, or confidential).
Included in the records are the minutes of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy (1973-April 1975) and records of that subcommittee's privacy task force, organized by Tennessen in December 1976 to prepare a series of papers on the classification of data for use by both the privacy subcommittee and the commission.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Minnesota. Legislature. Joint House-Senate Privacy Study Commission. Records. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.
Accession Information:
Accession number(s): 982-102; 985-33; 991-83
Processing Information:
Catalog ID number: 001728576
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
| 111.E.11.1B | Minutes, 1973-1976. 10 folders. | ||||||||||
| Minutes of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy (1973-April 1975) and the Study Commission (June 1975-July 1976); also agendas, meeting transcripts, correspondence, notices, testimony, and background materials. The latter include clippings, legal documents, and legislative bill drafts. The minutes do not appear to be complete. | |||||||||||
| Correspondence, 1973-1978. 1 volume; 2 folders. | |||||||||||
| Mainly correspondence of commission member Tennessen with other commission members, speakers, and the general public. Also copies of bills, memos, and background reports. | |||||||||||
| Final report and technical appendix, 1976. 4 folders. | |||||||||||
| Published report (December 1976) and manuscript technical appendix pages. | |||||||||||
| Newspaper clippings, 1973-1976. 1 volume; 1 folder. | |||||||||||
| Original and photocopied clippings documenting both the commission's activities and the issue of privacy in general. | |||||||||||
| 111.E.11.2F | Laws of Minnesota concerning privacy records (photocopies), 1971-1975. 1 volume. | ||||||||||
| Proposed legislation and drafts of bills (photocopies), 1973-1976. 1 volume. | |||||||||||
| Institutional responses to questions relating to Data Privacy Act, 1973-1976 (bulk 1975). 2 volumes. | |||||||||||
| Correspondence, forms, reports, rules and regulations, and other official documents relating to privacy submitted to the commission by various state departments, agencies, boards, commissions, and officials, and private and semi-private institutions with close ties to state government. The volumes are divided into sections by organization but there is no apparent order to their arrangement. | |||||||||||
| Privacy worksheets on department information, 1973-1978. 1 volume. | |||||||||||
| Mainly notes, annotated drafts of legislative bills and reports, and documentation on various state agency computer databases that contained information on individuals. | |||||||||||
| Select background materials collected by the commission, 1972-1977. 5 volumes. | |||||||||||
| Administration Department, 1973-1977. 1 volume. | |||||||||||
| Includes documentation on the role of IISAC [Intergovernmental Information Services Advisory Council] and a copy of the department's 1977 Data Privacy Proposal to the Legislature. | |||||||||||
| Criminal Justice and Public Safety Departments and Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, 1976. 1 volume. | |||||||||||
| Includes statements concerning newspapers and freedom of access. | |||||||||||
| 111.E.11.3B | Public Safety Department, Motor Vehicles Division, 1974-1975. 1 volume. | ||||||||||
| Mainly concerning the sale to direct mail companies of data on individuals collected and held in connection with motor vehicles registration and driver licensing. | |||||||||||
| Public Welfare Department, 1974-1977. 1 volume. | |||||||||||
| Includes the department's response to a federal privacy commission's recommendations and its records retention schedules. | |||||||||||
| University of Minnesota, 1972-1975. 1 volume. | |||||||||||
| Mainly testimony and related papers of the business school faculty. | |||||||||||
| Student papers, STAR editorials, Tennessen speeches, press releases, 1973-1978. 1 volume. | |||||||||||
| Four papers submitted by University of Minnesota law students concerning privacy (1973), a series of Minneapolis STAR editorials on privacy, typed with handwritten annotations (1976), copies of select speeches of Senator Tennessen (1973-1978), and handwritten and printed press releases (1973-1974). | |||||||||||
| Reports collected by the commission, 1972-1976. 1 volume. | |||||||||||
| Miscellaneous reports (mainly photocopies) concerning privacy, including testimony before the U. S. Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights. | |||||||||||
| Privacy Task Force, 1976. 1 volume. | |||||||||||
| Task force of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy organized by Tennessen in December 1976 to prepare a series of Issues and Options Papers on the classification of data for use by both the subcommittee and the commission. Contain memos, membership lists, correspondence, background materials, and drafts of the papers. | |||||||||||
CATALOG HEADINGS
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- Advertising, Direct-mail -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota.
- Conflict of laws -- Privacy, Right of -- Minnesota.
- Data protection -- Minnesota.
- Legislative bodies -- Minnesota -- Committees.
- Legislative councils -- Minnesota.
- Privacy, Right of -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota.
- Public records -- Minnesota -- Access control.
- Security classification (Government documents) -- Minnesota.
- Persons:
- Tennessen, Robert J.
- Organizations:
- Minnesota. Division of Motor Vehicles.
- Minnesota. Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
- Minnesota. Legislature. Senate. Judiciary Committee. Subcommittee on Privacy.
- Minnesota.
- Minnesota. Department of Administration.
- Minnesota. Department of Public Welfare.
- Minnesota. Department of Public Safety.
- Minnesota. Department of Education.
- University of Minnesota.
- Document Types:
- Transcripts -- Minnesota.
- Bills (legislative records) -- Minnesota.
- Functions:
- Protecting.
- Legislating.
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