FC: Rep. Ron Paul statement on SSNs, privacy, identity theft

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Sat May 26 2001 - 09:09:37 PDT

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    The House Ways and Means's subcommittee on Social Security held a hearing 
    on Tuesday about privacy and preventing the misuse of Social Security 
    numbers. See chairman Clay Shaw (R-FL)'s opening statement, planning "to 
    quickly bring to the House floor comprehensive legislation to keep Social 
    Security numbers private and protect citizens from identity theft." It's here:
    http://waysandmeans.house.gov/socsec/107cong/5-22-01/5-22shaw.htm
    
    Other testimony, from Ron Plesser representing credit bureaus and Marc 
    Rotenberg of EPIC:
    http://waysandmeans.house.gov/socsec/107cong/5-22-01/5-22ples.htm
    http://waysandmeans.house.gov/socsec/107cong/5-22-01/5-22rote.htm
    
    You can see the complete list of prepared testimony at:
    http://waysandmeans.house.gov/socsec/107cong/ss-4wit.htm
    
    -Declan
    
    *********
    
    From: "Singleton, Norman" <Norman.Singletonat_private>
    Subject: Statement on SSNs
    Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 14:57:18 -0400
    
    Friends, I thought you might be interested in the following statement 
    Congressman Paul submitted for the subcommittee on Social Security hearing 
    on the abuse of the Social Security number on May 22:
    
    <http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2001/cr052201.htm>http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2001/cr052201.htm 
    
    
    May 22, 2001
    
          Hearing before the House Ways and Means Social Security
          Subcommittee
    
          Protecting Privacy and Preventing Misuse of Social Security Numbers
    
    
    
          I wish to thank the subcommittee on Social Security of the Ways and 
    Means
          Committee for holding this hearing on the misuse of the Social Security
          number. The transformation of the Social Security number into a de facto
          uniform identifier is a subject of increasing concern to the American 
    people.
          This is, in large part, because the use of the Social Security number 
    as a
          standard identifier facilitates the crime of identity theft. Today, 
    all an
          unscrupulous person needs to do is obtain someone's Social Security 
    number
          in order to access that person's bank accounts, credit cards, and other
          financial assets. Many Americans have lost their life savings and 
    have had
          their credit destroyed as a result of identity theft.
    
          The responsibility for the misuse of the Social Security number and the
          corresponding vulnerability of the American people to identity crimes 
    lies
          squarely with the Congress. Since the creation of the Social Security 
    number,
          Congress has authorized over 40 uses of the Social Security number. 
    Thanks
          to Congress, today no American can get a job, open a bank account, get a
          professional license, or even get a drivers' license without 
    presenting their
          Social Security number. So widespread has the use of the Social Security
          number become that a member of my staff had to produce a Social Security
          number in order to get a fishing license!
    
          Because it was Congress which transformed the Social Security number 
    into
          a national identifier, Congress has a moral responsibility to address 
    this
          problem. In order to protect the American people from 
    government-mandated
          uniform identifiers which facilitate identity crimes, I have 
    introduced the
          Identity Theft Prevention Act (HR 220). The major provision of the 
    Identity
          Theft Prevention Act halts the practice of using the Social Security 
    number as
          an identifier by requiring the Social Security Administration to 
    issue all
          Americans new Social Security numbers within five years after the 
    enactment
          of the bill. These new numbers will be the sole legal property of the 
    recipient
          and the Social Security Administration shall be forbidden to divulge the
          numbers for any purposes not related to the Social Security program. 
    Social
          Security numbers issued before implementation of this bill shall no 
    longer be
          considered valid federal identifiers. Of course, the Social Security
          Administration shall be able to use an individual's original Social 
    Security
          number to ensure efficient transition of the Social Security system.
    
          This act also forbids the federal government from creating national 
    ID cards
          or establishing any identifiers for the purpose of investigating, 
    monitoring,
          overseeing, or regulating private transactions between American 
    citizens, as
          well as repealing those sections of the Health Insurance Portability and
          Accountability Act of 1996 that require the Department of Health and 
    Human
          Services to establish a uniform standard health identifier. By 
    putting an end to
          government-mandated uniform IDs, the Identity Theft Prevention Act will
          prevent millions of Americans from having their liberty, property and 
    privacy
          violated by private-and-public sector criminals.
    
          In addition to forbidding the federal government from creating national
          identifiers, this legislation forbids the federal government from 
    blackmailing
          states into adopting uniform standard identifiers by withholding 
    federal funds.
          One of the most onerous practices of Congress is the use of federal 
    funds
          illegitimately taken from the American people to bribe states into 
    obeying
          federal dictates.
    
          Many of our colleagues will claim that the federal government needs 
    these
          powers to protect against fraud or some other criminal activities. 
    However,
          monitoring the transactions of every American in order to catch those 
    few
          who are involved in some sort of illegal activity turns one of the great
          bulwarks of our liberty, the presumption of innocence, on its head. 
    The federal
          government has no right to treat all Americans as criminals by spying 
    on their
          relationship with their doctors, employers, or bankers. In fact, 
    criminal law
          enforcement is reserved to the state and local governments by the
          Constitution's Tenth Amendment.
    
          Other members of Congress will claim that the federal government 
    needs the
          power to monitor Americans in order to allow the government to operate
          more efficiently. I would remind my colleagues that in a 
    constitutional republic
          the people are never asked to sacrifice their liberties to make the 
    job of
          government officials a little bit easier. We are here to protect the 
    freedom of
          the American people, not to make privacy invasion more efficient.
    
          Mr. Chairman, while I do not question the sincerity of those members who
          suggest that Congress can ensure citizens' rights are protected through
          legislation restricting access to personal information, the only 
    effective privacy
          protection is to forbid the federal government from mandating national
          identifiers. Legislative "privacy protections" are inadequate to 
    protect the
          liberty of Americans for several reasons. First, it is simply common 
    sense that
          repealing those federal laws that promote identity theft is a more 
    effective in
          protecting the public than expanding the power of the federal police 
    force.
          Federal punishment of identity thieves provides old comfort to those 
    who have
          suffered financial losses and the destruction of their good 
    reputation as a
          result of identity theft.
    
          Federal laws are not only ineffective in stopping private criminals, 
    they have
          not even stopped unscrupulous government officials from accessing 
    personal
          information. Did laws purporting to restrict the use of personal 
    information
          stop the well-publicized violation of privacy by IRS officials or the 
    FBI abuses
          by the Clinton and Nixon administrations? !
    
          The primary reason why any action short of the repeal of laws 
    authorizing
          privacy violation is insufficient is because the federal government 
    lacks
          constitutional authority to force citizens to adopt a universal 
    identifier for
          health care, employment, or any other reason. Any federal action that
          oversteps constitutional limitations violates liberty because it 
    ratifies the
          principle that the federal government, not the Constitution, is the 
    ultimate judge
          of its own jurisdiction over the people. The only effective 
    protection of the
          rights of citizens is for Congress to follow Thomas Jefferson's 
    advice and
          "bind (the federal government) down with the chains of the 
    Constitution."
    
          Mr. Chairman, those members who are unpersuaded by the moral and
          constitutional reasons for embracing the Identity Theft Prevention 
    Act should
          consider the overwhelming opposition of the American people toward 
    national
          identifiers. The overwhelming public opposition to the various
          "Know-Your-Customer" schemes, the attempt to turn drivers' licenses into
          National ID cards, HHS's misnamed "medical privacy" proposal, as well as
          the numerous complaints over the ever-growing uses of the Social 
    Security
          number show that American people want Congress to stop invading their
          privacy. Congress risks provoking a voter backlash if we fail to halt 
    the
          growth of the surveillance state.
    
          In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I once again thank you and the other 
    members
          of the subcommittee for holding a hearing on this important issue. I 
    hope this
          hearing would lead to serious Congressional action to end to the federal
          government's unconstitutional use of national identifiers which 
    facilitate
          identity theft by passing Hr 220, the Identify Theft Prevention Act.
    
    
    
    
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