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Justice Department Publishes Social Security Numbers

By Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.com

January 2, 2006

• Internet Providers Admit to Monitoring Customers' Web Surfing • Big Brother Hitching A Ride in California? • GAO: Government Can Do More to Protect Personal Data • US Search Agrees to Stop Selling Private Credit Data • TSA Site Left Passenger Data Exposed To ID Theft • Connecticut Governor Wants 'Opt Out' For Online Directories • Verizon Gave Customer Data To Government Without Court Orders • House Democrats Probe Warrantless Surveillance --- • More Privacy News ...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is busy defending President Bush's controversial NSA surveillance program and pushing for full authorization of the Patiot Act, claiming that the initiatives will protect Americans from terrorism and secure their civil liberties.

But a few sharp-eyed individuals have found that the DOJ isn't nearly so zealous when it comes to protecting individuals' personal information.

Information Week's Larry Greenemeier reported recently that the DOJ had published several documents containing the full names and Social Security numbers (SSN) of individuals involved in litigation with the agency.

For example, the department published the full name and SSN of a woman involved in a class-action immigration lawsuit filed in 2003 on the DOJ's Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) Web page.

Greenemeier was tipped off by a systems security manager in a California bank, who noticed the information and contacted the DOJ on Nov. 12th, 2005. After being told that the matter was being handled, the manager found the information still available for public view on the site as of Dec. 19th, and contacted Greenemeier.

Greenemeier found several other documents on the EOIR page containing individuals' social security numbers, and contacted the DOJ personally to inform them.

Since then, documentation relating to the immigration case has been "scrubbed" of any Social Security numbers, and the document itself was blocked from view in searches of the DOJ site. The settlement itself is still viewable via various search engines.

In addition to being governed by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Privacy Act, EOIA's "Information Quality Guidelines" specify that "Consistent with applicable disclosure restrictions, EOIR seeks to disseminate information, including relevant supporting data or analyses, in as broad and prompt a manner as possible for the public to benefit from EOIR's efforts and expertise."

Interestingly, the guidelines do not apply to "Information dissemination products relating to or arising from adjudicatory processes,"which would undoubtedly include notice of a class action settlement.

Social Security numbers are used by virtually every government agency to identify individual taxpayers, and are utilized as "personal ID" numbers for state government services, employers, and many businesses. Their repeated usage, and the difficulty in changing an individual number, makes them a prime target for identity thieves who want access to a person's information.

Repeat Offender

The EOIR incident isn't the first time government agencies have been sloppy in how they control access to individual information.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report issued in September found that multiple government agencies, including the FBI and IRS, failed to fulfill all the necessary requirements to protect and secure individuals' records.

Many of the identity-theft protection bills awaiting action in Congress have provisions to restrict the usage of Social Security numbers except in specific circumstances. Many states also have laws governing access to Social Security numbers.

Privacy advocates and IT security experts are concerned that weaker Federal legislation may preempt stronger state laws, leaving Social Security numbers and other personal data more vulnerable to theft than before.

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