CDR: Net Privacy Bill Called 'Trojan Horse'

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Net Privacy Bill Called 'Trojan Horse' 
                 
                 By Robert O'Harrow Jr, Washington Post
                 WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A.,
                 25 Oct 2000, 6:14 AM CST

                 The legislation began as an effort to protect people like
                 Amy Boyer, a New Hampshire woman who was slain by
                 a man who tracked her down after buying her Social
                 Security number on the Internet. 

                 In May, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., proposed a law to sharply 
limit the sale
                 of the identifying numbers, which often serve as hooks 
for electronic
                 dossiers about the whereabouts, credit histories and lifestyles 
of millions
                 of Americans. 

                 Then the information industry got involved. Now privacy 
advocates say
                 Gregg's modified measure, part of an appropriations bill 
set to pass in the
                 final days of Congress, is a "Trojan horse" that does more 
harm than good,
                 because loopholes allow giant data brokers, banks, marketers 
and even
                 private detectives to exchange or sell the numbers among 
themselves. 

                 That means such companies will be free to use the numbers 
to track down
                 debtors or deadbeat parents, collect personal data, conduct 
fraud
                 investigations, and build profiles about what people buy 
and do. 

                 The debate is the latest flare-up over one of the staples 
of the information
                 age, a number that enables government agencies, marketers 
and
                 information brokers to keep close tabs on a proliferation 
of data about
                 individual Americans. 

                 Some privacy activists believe that Social Security numbers 
should be
                 used only with individuals' permission. At the same time,
 information
                 industries that rely on unfettered access to personal information 
fear losing
                 control over a key to their business. 

                 "It is just the worst kind of legislation," said Edmund 
Mierzwinski,
                 consumer advocate at the US Public Interest Research Group,
 who has
                 worked with Consumers Union, the American Civil Liberties 
Union and the
                 Clinton administration to oppose Gregg's proposal. "It 
is supposed to do
                 something good, but it actually makes things worse." 

                 Tim Remsburg, Amy Boyer's stepfather, who originally asked 
Gregg to
                 introduce the bill, is angry about how it evolved. "It 
sure isn't as effective as
                 what I asked for at the beginning," he said in an interview. 
"They want to
                 put Amy's name on this." 

                 A Gregg spokesman defended the legislation, saying it will 
make it illegal
                 to sell Social Security numbers to individuals. But he 
acknowledged that
                 the current legislation was crafted with help from the 
Individual Reference
                 Services Group (IRSG), an industry association that includes 
some of the
                 nation's largest data marketers. 

                 Members include such companies as Acxiom Corp., Equifax 
Inc. and
                 Trans Union LLC, which have strongly opposed any efforts 
to curb access
                 to personal data. 

                 IRSG representative Ronald Plesser, who worked with Gregg's 
office on the
                 legislation, did not return repeated telephone calls. In 
a Sept. 28 letter to
                 Gregg's office, Plesser blasted more stringent restrictions 
proposed by the
                 Clinton administration. 

                 A letter from IRSG said, "Your bill strikes the right balance 
by providing
                 strong privacy protections without undermining the range 
of important and
                 socially beneficial activities by business and government 
that have
                 developed based upon the use of SSNs." 

                 One exception also would permit state and local governments 
to continue
                 selling records containing Social Security numbers. The 
provision is
                 worded in such a way that, critics say, it would allow 
businesses buying
                 those records to use Social Security numbers with no legal 
restraints. 

                 Remsburg's stepdaughter, Amy Boyer, 20, was fatally shot 
last year by a
                 man who had been stalking her for some time. The man, who 
killed himself
                 after killing Boyer, acknowledged at a Web site that he 
obtained details
                 about Boyer from brokers on the Internet. 

                 "It's a significant restriction on the ability of individuals 
to get Social
                 Security numbers," said Gregg spokesman Edmund M. Amarosi. 
"We feel
                 it will have a significant impact on preventing a recurrence 
of what
                 happened to Amy Boyer." 

                 In a statement, Gregg's office said that "the exceptions 
that are outlined in
                 the Amy Boyer Law were the result of thoughtful consideration 
of the
                 impact that a complete ban on the use of Social Security 
numbers would
                 have on our nation's economy." 

                 Until recently, at the request of industry, the law also 
prohibited states
                 from enacting tougher legislation. But Amarosi said that 
exception would
                 be dropped because of objections from the administration 
and others. 

                 Copyright (C) 2000, The Washington Post. Reprinted with 
permission. 

                 Reported By The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com 
.