The Privacy Act grew out of a growing concern in the Congress and the nation at large over the potential misuse of the vast amounts and kinds of personal information that Federal agencies collect and maintain on individuals, particularly in the light of computer technology with its enormous power to store, manipulate, and transmit data. Its aim was to prevent misuse by the granting of rights and the imposition of obligations. The rights were granted to the persons on whom the Federal agencies collect and keep information; the obligations were imposed on the Federal agencies that collect and keep such information. Indeed, most of the provisions of this complex act can best be understood by thinking in the dual terms of rights and obligations.