Any agency maintaining an information system that disseminates statistical reports or research findings based on personal information drawn from its system, or from other systems shall:

Terms Used In Virginia Code 2.2-3805

  • Agency: means any agency, authority, board, department, division, commission, institution, bureau, or like governmental entity of the Commonwealth or of any unit of local government including counties, cities, towns, regional governments, and the departments thereof, and includes constitutional officers, except as otherwise expressly provided by law. See Virginia Code 2.2-3801
  • Data subject: means an individual about whom personal information is indexed or may be located under his name, personal number, or other identifiable particulars, in an information system. See Virginia Code 2.2-3801
  • Information system: means the total components and operations of a record-keeping process, including information collected or managed by means of computer networks and the Internet, whether automated or manual, containing personal information and the name, personal number, or other identifying particulars of a data subject. See Virginia Code 2.2-3801
  • Personal information: means all information that (i) describes, locates or indexes anything about an individual including, but not limited to, his social security number, driver's license number, agency-issued identification number, student identification number, real or personal property holdings derived from tax returns, and his education, financial transactions, medical history, ancestry, religion, political ideology, criminal or employment record, or (ii) affords a basis for inferring personal characteristics, such as finger and voice prints, photographs, or things done by or to such individual; and the record of his presence, registration, or membership in an organization or activity, or admission to an institution. See Virginia Code 2.2-3801

1. Make available to any data subject or group, without revealing trade secrets, methodology and materials necessary to validate statistical analysis, and

2. Make no materials available for independent analysis without guarantees that no personal information will be used in any way that might prejudice judgments about any data subject.

1976, c. 597, § 2.1-381; 2001, c. 844.