NoSSN - SCAN THIS NEWS 5.24.2002

SCAN THIS NEWS 5.24.2002
May 24, 2002

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SCAN THIS NEWS 5.24.2002

This is a follow-up to my previous ScanThisNews post regarding the recent

General Accounting Office report on the use of social security numbers for

child support enforcement.

Today, I received from the GAO a response to my request for the list of

"privacy experts" that were contact by the authors of GAO report

(GAO-02-239) concerning child support enforcement and collection of social

security numbers from license applicants. The report stated that the

experts they contacted "did not express privacy concerns regarding the

policy that MVAs (motor vehicle agencies) collect SSNs for child

enforcement."

The privacy experts contacted for the GAO report were as follows:

[1] Harold D. Skipper, Jr.

Primary expertise: Insurance company risk management.

http://www.rmi.gsu.edu/rmi/faculty/skipperresume.htm

1991 - present

Consultant, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

"Through the OECD, provide guidance to Eastern European countries on how

best to structure their insurance laws and regulations."

[2] Bill Campbell

(No information found)

[3] Kary Moss

ACLU/Michigan

[4] Robert (Bob) Gellman

Former congressional staffer and privacy consultant

[5] Beth Givens

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

http://www.privacyrights.org/

I have attempted to contact all six of the above named individuals. So

far, I've spoken only with Kary Moss (ACLU) and Robert Gellman. I'm still

waiting to hear back from the other four.

Of the two that I did speak with, Kary Moss said she had not seen the

report but would get back with me after reading it.

The conclusions I drew from Robert Gellman is that he no longer sees

objections to increasing demands for social security numbers as a

productive effort.

http://news.mpr.org/features/199911/15_newsroom_privacy/natlid.html

Scott McDonald

======================================================================

SCAN THIS NEWS 4.02.2002

---

WorldNetDaily Exclusive

YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE...

No problem with agencies sharing data?

GAO says privacy experts OK with collecting Social Security numbers

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26989

Posted: March 28, 2002

1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Jon Dougherty

-[brief excerpts]-

A General Accounting Office report has claimed that privacy experts "have

no problems" with the collection and use of Social Security numbers by

state motor vehicle agencies, though experts who spoke with WorldNetDaily

disagreed with the agency's assertion.

The GAO, Congress' watchdog agency, made the claim in a report released in

February entitled, "Child Support Enforcement: Most States Collect SSNs

and Use Them To Enforce Child Support."

It said that 47 out of 53 motor vehicle agencies [MVAs] "collect SSNs from

all applicants for driver's licenses," but that federal officials have

"taken limited or no steps to promote such collection of SSNs in states

not currently doing so."

"While many of the state officials and privacy experts we spoke with

recognized the increased dissemination of SSNs throughout society as a

serious concern, few felt that this concern extended to the policy of

motor vehicle agencies collecting SSNs for child support enforcement,"

said the report.

-[snip]-

Privacy experts surveyed by WND discounted the agency's assertion that the

use of SSNs for child support enforcement or for other purposes was not a

problem.

-[snip]-

Scott McDonald, editor of the Scan This News electronic newsletter - a

publication that tracks privacy concerns and the government's increasing

use of biometrics - called the report a "government propaganda piece," and

said he questions why the GAO failed to list the "privacy experts" it says

it contacted for its report.

-[end excerpts]-

Read the complete report:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26989

===================================

======================================================================

SCAN THIS NEWS 3.26.2002

"Privacy Experts" don't object to SSN requirements

-according to GAO report

According to a report to Congress from the General Accounting Office,

issued February 2002, "privacy experts" are not concerned about government

demands for social security numbers as condition for engaging in normal

societal activities.

The report states, "privacy experts we spoke with generally did not

express privacy concerns regarding the policy that MVAs collect SSNs for

child support enforcement." It further states, "privacy experts we

contacted tended not to identify this requirement as an issue of concern."

The report, entitled, "CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT--Most States Collect

Drivers' SSNs and Use Them to Enforce Child Support" can be downloaded

here:

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02239.pdf

(Report No: GAO-02-239)

The report's authors conclude that "the low level of concern about MVAs

collecting SSNs for child support enforcement may be because SSNs are

being collected in support of a federal program."

It also states that officials of the Texas and Georgia attorney general's

offices and MVA officials in Texas and North Carolina pointed to

government' s purpose in collecting SSNs to facilitate the payment of

child support "as a reason why they are not concerned about privacy."

GAO propaganda pieces -- such as this report -- are generally prepared at

the request of some Congressional committee or member of congress as

"ammunition" in support of upcoming legislation.

None of the "privacy experts" they (supposedly) contacted are named in the

report. I contacted the report's authors attempting to find out exactly

who the "experts" were they spoke with. My best guess is that members of

the privacy front organization "EPIC" are on the list (and possibly the

ONLY ones on the list). Initially I was told that the names of the

"privacy experts" would be emailed to me. However, a week later I was

contacted by phone and told I must first file a Freedom of Information Act

Request before the names could be released. I am in the process of making

this request.

Nowhere does the report comment on the hundreds and possibly thousands of

Christian individuals with strong religious objections to the SSN demand

being consequently punished for their convictions. Neither does the report

mention the fact that the initial social security number requirement as

adopted in 1996 applied ~only~ to "commercial" driver licenses, and that

the word "commercial" was surreptitiously deleted by Congress the

following year (which meant that there was no opportunity for public

objection). The report also fails to mention that a number of lawsuits

challenging the SSN requirement were pending across the US at the time the

report was compiled.

The report authors are:

Carolyn Taylor (202)512-2974

Nancy Cosentino (415)904-2117

Scott McDonald

"Do not be afraid of your enemies - in the worst case they can kill you; Do not be afraid of your friends - in the worst case they can betray you; Be
afraid of the indifferent ones: it is from their silent blessings that all the evil is happening in the world!" -- Bruno Yasensky, Russian writer.

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