Compilation of State and Federal Privacy Laws

Compilation of State and Federal Privacy Laws is a serially updated legal reference published by Privacy Journal. It gathers federal and state statutes that touch on personal privacy into a single volume.

Editions were issued roughly every few years starting in 1975. The first compilation listed about 50 privacy laws; later editions tracked the subject's growth, reaching roughly 200 laws by 1976, 500 by 1984, 600 by 1988, and over 1,000 by 1997. Editions are organized by subject heading, covering areas such as credit reporting, government records, and workplace and genetic testing, with appendices of representative statutes. Later editions added a supplement rather than a full reprint, including a 2013 edition with a 2018 supplement. This record could not establish which specific edition or printing is being described; the edition field is left unresolved rather than guessed.

Robert Ellis Smith (1940-2018) was a lawyer and journalist. He founded and edited the Privacy Journal newsletter starting in 1974, and the Compilation was one of his signature ongoing publications alongside it. He continued to edit successive editions of the Compilation for more than 40 years.