The White House is ordering federal agencies to significantly raise the level of protection afforded to personal data they keep and use. Joshua Bolten, director of the Office of Management and Budget, issued a memorandum last week instructing agency heads "to describe how the government handles information that individuals provide electronically, so that the American public has assurances that personal information is protected." The OMB guidelines, required by the E-Government Act of 2002, apply to information that identifies individuals in a recognizable form, including name, address, telephone number, Social Security number, and E-mail address.