[Thanks to RF.] Federal Register: December 26, 1996 [Pages 68044-68045]: The Federal Reserve Board solicits comment concerning the public availability and use of social security numbers and other sensitive identifying information about consumers. The FRB, and the FTC, is to conduct a study to determine the availability to the public of sensitive identifying information about consumers, the possibility that such information could be used for financial fraud, and the potential for fraud or risk of loss, if any, to insured depository institutions. Testimony at a recent FTC hearing highlighted how easy it is to obtain identifying information about a consumer and to use that information to fraudulently receive credit in the consumer's name, a practice often referred to as "identity theft." ----- SSN_ssi (9 kb) Or, access the Federal Register at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html