PART OF PANEL'S ONGOING WORK ON DATA SECURITY AND COMBATING IDENTITY THEFT

Washington, May 11, 2006 - "Social Security numbers were created to track Social Security taxes and to properly credit accounts for those payments," stated Rep. Cliff Stearns, (R-FL), Chairman of the Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee. "The government and private business realized that these numbers were unique identifiers and adopted them for their own use. Social Security numbers have legitimate other uses, and we want to look at their correct use as well as their misuse, especially in the area of identity theft. Today's witnesses helped this panel to better understand these uses, as well as the impact of various bills offered to protect these numbers."

Jon Leibowitz, Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, outlined the usefulness of Social Security numbers (SSNs), "With 300 million American consumers, many of whom share the same name, the unique 9-digit SSN is a key identification tool for businesses, government and others." However, he also noted, "The misuse of SSNs can facilitate identity theft. For example, new account fraud - the most serious form of identity theft - is often possible only if the thief obtains the victim's SSN." Leibowitz further observed that SSNs "are over-used and under-protected."

Susan McDonald, President, Pension Benefit Information, discussed the positive use of SSNs, "With so many people changing jobs today, the task of locating former employees is becoming increasingly difficult. They also often change their names with marriage or list slightly different names (i.e., leave out a middle initial or use Bill versus William) on employment documents. If PBI were unable to utilize a SSN for retrieval purposes our results would plummet. We currently locate 80-90+% using a participants SSN."

Witnesses also provided their views on legislation protecting SSNs. Lauren Steinfeld testified based on her experience as former Chief Counselor for Privacy at the Office of Management and Budget, and as the current Chief Privacy Officer, University of Pennsylvania. She stated, "The bills [H.R. 1078, the Social Security Number Protection Act, offered By Rep. Markey (D-MA), and H.R. 1745, the Social Security Number Privacy and Identity Theft Prevention Act, offered by Rep. Shaw (R-FL)] would outlaw the uncontrolled sale and purchase of SSNs. Today, it is lawful to create a website ands offer SSNs for sale - regardless of who is asking and regardless of the purpose."

Concluded Stearns, "It is clear that steps must be taken to provide added protection for Social Security numbers while maintaining the legitimate uses by government, businesses, and law enforcement. I am grateful to Chairman Barton for expressing today his commitment to acting on legislation protecting Social Security numbers this year, and I look forward to working with him on that task."