Homeland Security's Request For Student Data Stirs Concern

[R.A. Hettinga]

<http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB110125761251482555,00.html>

The Wall Street Journal


 November 24, 2004

 POLITICS AND POLICY


Homeland Security's Request
 For Student Data Stirs Concern

By ALONSO SOTO and ROBERT BLOCK
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 24, 2004; Page A4


WASHINGTON -- A Homeland Security Department campaign to make
schoolchildren better prepared for terrorist attacks is raising concerns
about making them more vulnerable to identity theft as well.

The department's preparedness form, which went out as part of the "Ready"
campaign in September and October, asks that students in junior and senior
high school carry around a form that includes their Social Security number,
birth date and home address, as well those of their parents and siblings.

The move first caused an outcry in Rhode Island when a consumer fraud
investigator brought it to the attention of Patrick Lynch, the state
attorney general. Mr. Lynch responded by firing off a letter to Homeland
Security Secretary Tom Ridge requesting that he revise the form immediately.

"While I do agree that it is important for families to have a plan in the
event of an emergency, I believe this particular form is capable of more
harm than good," he said in the letter dated Oct. 14. He said he was
particularly concerned about the part of the form that exhorts: "Take this
out of your agenda, fill it out with family and make copies to keep in your
schoolbag and in visible locations at home."

Mr. Lynch said that asking children to carry around such information was an
invitation to identity thieves because teenagers frequently lose or
misplace their backpacks.

Mr. Lynch said in a phone interview yesterday that he has yet to receive
any response from Homeland Security.

Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse denied that the government was
encouraging identity theft, saying that people worried about such problems
could choose to leave the sensitive entries blank. "People can choose to
include whatever information on the forms they like," he said.

Several Homeland Security programs have drawn criticism and privacy
complaints from civil activists over the past two years. The agency says
that such measures need to be taken to protect Americans from terrorist
plots.

Homeland Security officials declined to say how many student planners with
the forms were sent around the country, but say that they have removed the
sentence encouraging students to keep copies of the forms in their
backpacks from the latest version. However, space for the family Social
Security numbers is still included. Mr. Roehrkasse said that forms which
will be sent to younger children later this year won't include space for
Social Security information.

Barry Steinhardt, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union
Liberty Project, said Homeland Security was "grossly irresponsible" for the
form, saying that it should know that identify theft is an epidemic in the
country and their actions would only make it easier for thieves. "I hope
this was just a misjudgment by the department and not a concealed attempt
to collect data," he said.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, the problem of identity theft
cost Americans nearly $43 billion last year. Identity theft is also of
major concern to federal law-enforcement officials because it could help
terrorists disguise their activities.

In addition to complaining to Mr. Ridge, Mr. Lynch wrote to Rhode Island's
state director of Homeland Security affairs and to the superintendents of
each of the state's school systems asking them to disregard the Homeland
form. "We don't want children, we don't want adults, we don't want anybody
giving up their Social Security numbers," he said.


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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
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