Monday, November 12, 2007
Editorial: ###-##-#### is enough
Virginia should gather few Social Security numbers and release fewer.
From the RoundTable blog
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The last time lawmakers got together in Richmond, a few of them suggested government should not hand out citizens' Social Security numbers willy-nilly. Those magic nine digits that open the door to identity theft require special protection.
Lawmakers prudently chose not to rush into anything. Government should proceed cautiously whenever it contemplates denying citizens access to public records.
Rather than pass bills exempting Social Security numbers from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, they sent the idea to the Virginia FOIA Council for analysis.
The council has been studying the issue for a few months, most recently meeting on Friday, but now some lawmakers have a different plan.
A legislative subcommittee has been studying the issue, too, and concluded the best way to tackle the problem is to limit the amount of personal information government collects about citizens in the first place.
If government only rarely collects Social Security numbers, there is less pressure for altering the FOIA law.
Sounds good, but why not do both? Instruct agencies and local government to gather Social Security numbers only when absolutely necessary and require them to redact those numbers when responding to FOIA requests.
Just don't fall victim to privacy hysteria that ends up causing more harm than good.
One of the bills lawmakers considered during their last legislative session would have also banned the release of birthdays, credit card and bank account numbers, and a host of other information the state acquires. Each deserves careful scrutiny.
Credit card and bank numbers seem a no-brainer. Keep them confidential. Birthdays and home addresses in public records, on the other hand, ought to be accessible. Citizens must be able to find some personal information in the records to identify individuals.
The key is constraint and moderation. The default should be public access so that Virginians can monitor what their government does and with or to whom.
Any limitations must be narrowly circumscribed and based on compelling reasons. Restricting the collection and release of Social Security numbers meets those standards.
