CDR: Net Privacy Bill Called 'Trojan Horse'
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auto87114 at hushmail.com
Fri Oct 27 13:08:17 PDT 2000
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
.
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