Private Records are restricted from public access because they frequently contain information of a personal nature about individuals, which the public is not entitled to know. Records containing an individual’s financial information, medical information, employment records, or personal information such as drivers license number, social security number, date of birth, or private email address, are all private records.

Controlled Records records are restricted from public access because they contain medical, psychiatric, or psychological data about an individual, the release of which would be unethical or harmful to the subject of the records.

Protected Records records are restricted from public access because the release of the records would generally interfere with government practices. Protected records include evidence of on-going investigations, test questions, documents related to government procurement and real estate transactions, attorney documents, and draft documents, among other things. Protected records may be released if an agency believes the public interest in the record outweighs the reasons for protecting the record.

GRAMA defines private records as those identified in Utah Code Section 63G-2-302. Private records contain information about specific individuals. A record that is classified as private can be released to the subject of the record or his representatives.

GRAMA defines controlled records as those identified in Utah Code Section 63G-2-304. Like private records, controlled records contain information about individuals, but controlled records are limited to medical, psychiatric, or psychological data that can only be released to health care professionals.

GRAMA defines protected records as those identified in Utah Code Section 63G-2-305. Access to these records is restricted because there is a public policy interest in restricting access. A few examples are answers to test questions, and records that are subject to attorney-client privilege. There are 81 categories of protected records.

In addition to GRAMA, many other statutes identify specific records that are exempt from disclosure. For example, FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act), governs student records in all schools which receive federal support.