Bipartisan bill to limit use of Social Security numbers

[babylonsister]

http://blogs.trb.com/news/politics/blog/2007/07/bipartisan_bill_to_limit_use_o.html

Bipartisan bill to limit use of Social Security numbers

by William Neikirk

Top members of the House Ways and Means Committee from both parties want to limit the use of your Social Security number by government and business in order to crack down on identity theft, a growing scourge in society.

A bill they introduced Monday falls short of an outright ban on using the number for governmental or business purposes, but its sponsors say it would help reduce the amount of identity theft. The question is whether the exceptions allowed under the bill would still give identity thieves enough room to operate. Time will tell, as they say.

But by permitting some exceptions, the sponsors do tacitly concede that your SSN is still a mighty handy universal identifier for many government and business purposes. It would still be possible to use it for credit purposes, for example. And I know a lot of people nervous about mentioning their SSN in public when applying for credit in a store.

The measure, introduced by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the powerful committee, and Rep. James McCrery (R-La.), the ranking GOP member, results from 16 hearings conducted by the panel's Social Security subcommittee, headed by Rep. Michael McNulty (D-N.Y.). Also supporting it is the subcommittee's ranking Republican, Rep. Sam Johnson of Texas.

It should pass easily with such strong bipartisan support. The only question is whether it should be tougher.

The bill would prohibit using a Social Security card to steal someone's identity. A violator could be imprisoned for up to five years and fined up to $250,000. And there would be a civil penalty up to $5,000 for each incident of identity theft.

more...

[Gormy Cuss]

1. It's extraordinarily weak because it exempts the insurance and credit industries

Based on the blog link info, there seems to be precious little in the way of new protection for consumers. As long as it is permitted for use as a unique identifier by the credit industry there will be no reduction in identity theft. There is no reason to allow it for insurance purposes, ever.

There will be a few more protections against government displays of SSNs, but very little on the private sector side. It's not a bad idea, it just doesn't go far enough.

[mainegreen]

2. "The bill would prohibit using a Social Security card to steal someone's identity"...

:rofl:
Wow. That's really naive. Last time I checked identity theft was already illegal.

[BulletproofLandshark]

3. Yeah, that's was my first thought when I read that.

Just enforce the laws already on the books! :banghead: