Sam Johnson

Washington, Jul 20, 2007 -

Have you ever had your personal information – like your Social Security number (SSN) – used without your permission?  Join the club!

According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, the total number of known records that have been compromised since January 2005 through last week was over 158 million.  

You are right to be worried about the security of your personal information, including your Social Security number.  Practically a day doesn’t go by when we don’t read about or hear about another data breach in the private or public sector where hundreds - if not thousands - of people’s personal identity information is stolen.

The reality is that even though Social Security numbers were created to track earnings for taxes and benefits, these numbers are widely used as personal identifiers.

Even the federal government has had a hand in making it easier for identity thieves.  For example, when you receive your Social Security card, they advise, “Do not carry this with you….Keep it stored in a safe place.”  But then, when you get a Medicare card, the SSN is printed right on the front in bold black letters.  Because you have to carry your Medicare card – we are giving thieves a pre-packaged identity theft kit when they steal a senior’s wallet.  That makes no sense at all!

According to the Government Accountability Office, Social Security numbers have become the “identifier of choice” and are used for every day business transactions.  In fact, in their April 2007 report, the President’s Identity Theft Task Force identified the Social Security number as the “most valuable commodity for an identity thief.”   

These thieves are hard at work.  According to the latest data provided by Federal Trade Commission, over a one year period nearly 10 million people, or about 5 percent of the adult population, discovered they were victims of identity theft.  Even worse, the true number of victims of this devastating crime is unknown, since most victims do not report the crime. 

Losses due to ID thefts have been estimated to exceed $50 billion annually. Victims spend roughly 300 million hours a year trying to re-establish their hard-earned credit and clearing their good name.

The Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security has been working on a bipartisan basis to protect the privacy of Social Security numbers and prevent identity theft for years, unfortunately without success.  I hope that is about to change.  

This week I introduced, and my committee approved, new legislation to help stop the rampant abuse and overuse of your Social Security number.  As the lead Republican on the Social Security Subcommittee, I joined with the Chairman of the Way and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, Mike McNulty (D-N.Y.), on H.R. 3060, the “Social Security Number Privacy and Identity Theft Prevention Act of 2007.” 

Our committee approved this legislation 41 to zero and it will prohibit the sale of SSNs, except for law enforcement and national security, tax purposes, and accuracy of credit or insurance underwriting.  The bill also would prohibit the display of SSNs to the general public – like on ID cards (military or Medicare or schools) and checks; prevent prisoners from working in jobs with access to SSNs and create a new truncation standard using the last 4 digits of SSNs.

Providing for uses of Social Security numbers that benefit the public while protecting their privacy is a complex balancing act.  This bill achieves that balance.  I believe that we must reduce the circulation of the SSN and ensure these numbers used only when necessary and not when convenient. 

Swift, bipartisan unanimous passage of new legislation rarely happens and gives me hope that this idea will move forward soon.  It’s long past time for Congress to act to help stop the widespread use of Social Security numbers, help prevent ID theft, and further protect Americans’ privacy. 

If you support keeping your personal information private and stopping identity theft, call all of your friends and family across America.  Reach out to your loved ones and have them call their local lawmakers at 202-225-3121 (the main Capitol Hill switchboard).  Your friends and family should urge their Member of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 3046.  SSN theft prevention is long overdue. 

The less your Social Security number is in circulation, the less likely it will be lost or stolen.