In 1972, then-Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare Elliot L. Richardson, appointed the Advisory Committee on Automated Personal Data Systems. The Committee assessed the impact of computer-based record keeping on private and public matters and recommended safeguards against its potentially adverse effects. The Report proposed a Code of Fair Information Practices. These principles formed the basis for all subsequent codes and laws related to information collection, especially the Privacy Act of 1974 and the OECD privacy guidelines.