Classified Information

Classified information is a categorization applied to information that a government claims is sensitive information. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of persons. A formal security clearance is often required to handle classified documents or access classified data. The clearance process requires a satisfactory background investigation. There are typically several levels (classes) of sensitivity, with differing clearance requirements. This sort of hierarchical system of secrecy is used by virtually every national government. The act of assigning the level of sensitivity to data is called data classification. Although the root sense of the word "classified" is simply synonymous with "categorized", it has developed a sense synonymous with "censored" in the context of classified information.

A distinction could be made between formal security classification and privacy markings such as "Commercial in confidence".

Some corporations and non-government organizations also assign sensitive information to multiple levels of protection, either from a desire to protect trade secrets, or because of laws and regulations governing various matters such as personal privacy, sealed legal proceedings and the timing of financial information releases.

Read more about Classified Information:  Government Classification, Corporate Classification, Traffic Light Protocol

Famous quotes containing the words classified and/or information:

    Inanimate objects are classified scientifically into three major categories—those that don’t work, those that break down and those that get lost.
    Russell Baker (b. 1925)

    The real, then, is that which, sooner or later, information and reasoning would finally result in, and which is therefore independent of the vagaries of me and you. Thus, the very origin of the conception of reality shows that this conception essentially involves the notion of a COMMUNITY, without definite limits, and capable of a definite increase of knowledge.
    Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)