Motor Vehicle Administration Has
Your Social Security Number
. . .and With It, a Whole Lot More
By Paul G. Vielmetti
September 6, 2000
On a recent visit to the Maine Department of Motor
Vehicles (DMV) to perform the perfunctory chore of obtaining
a renewal of my about-to-expire driver's license, I
was shocked and appalled to learn that I was required
to provide the DMV with my Social Security Number (SSN)
in order to obtain the necessary renewal. Moreover,
the clerk advised that provision of the SSN was mandatory
and that my failure to comply would result in either
nonrenewal of the license or suspension of the existing
one--or both.
Lacking the time and resources (and, perhaps, the
nerve) to engage in the lengthy administrative appeal
process and the inevitable ensuing litigation that would
have undoubtedly been triggered by noncompliance with
what I viewed as an unreasonable (and potentially illegal)
demand, I grudgingly provided my SSN and obtained my
license renewal.
Evolution of State Mandate
Annoyed by the DMV's demand for my SSN and my meek surrender
thereto, I decided to engage in a bit of investigation
and research in an attempt to ascertain the legal basis
(if any) for what I regarded as DMV's intrusive invasion
of my privacy. Although I didn't consider myself paranoid,
I realized that one's SSN is generally regarded as one
of the unique keys (akin to fingerprints and DNA) to one's
identity and, by extension, to a host of related personal
information.
Acting on my initial suspicion that the SSN requirement
was the brainchild of the legislature, I first focused
on changes in the Maine vehicle laws. I discovered that
the laws evolved from no requirement regarding SSNs,
to a permissive provision (the Secretary of State "may"
require SSNs), to the current (1997) provision that
the Secretary "shall" collect a person's SSN upon application
or renewal of a driver's license. (To lawyers and laymen
alike, the difference between "may" and "shall" is fairly
unambiguous.)
Whose Idea: State or Feds?
However, upon further investigation (including telephone
interviews with Maine legislators knowledgeable on the
subject and informed sources in Washington), the answer
to the question, "Whose idea was this anyway?" proved
more elusive and convoluted than one might have initially
thought.
The Maine DMV's SSN requirement evolved roughly as
follows: In 1996, the Congress enacted the Illegal Immigration
Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which included
a provision encouraging states to collect and share
with the Immigration and Naturalization Service SSN
information in an effort to crack down on illegal immigration
and related problems. Anticipating the need to comply
with this requirement, Maine changed its laws to give
the Secretary of State the discretion ("may") to collect
SSN information. When the Feds later had a change of
heart and repealed the SSN feature of the Immigration
Reform Act, the justification for Maine's SSN requirement
evaporated.
However, in their ongoing, Orwellian effort to transform
the SSN into a "national ID number," an outcome antithetical
to the original 1935 Social Security Act of President
Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, Congress took another
bite at the apple in the famous (or infamous) Welfare
Reform Act. It was signed by President Clinton in August
1996, after he had vetoed two previous versions submitted
to him by Congress.
Included in the voluminous bill were a number of sections
designed to enhance the enforcement and collection of
delinquent child support orders against so-called "deadbeat
dads" (and moms, too, for that matter).
SSN Requirement Link to Licensure
When the amending and horse-trading dust finally settled
in Congress, what ultimately emerged, among other provisions,
was a requirement that every state have in place procedures
requiring that the SSN of "any applicant for professional
license, driver's license, occupational license, recreational
license or marriage license" be recorded on the application.
Failure to accede to this unfunded (and hence arguably
illegal) federal mandate could have cost states millions
of dollars in withheld rebates of federal recoveries
of "deadbeat dad" delinquencies. Enter the prodigious
lobbying scare tactics of the Maine welfare cabal, with
dire predictions of "blowing a $17 million hole" in
the state budget, and our legislators supinely agreed
to sell our privacy rights in exchange for federal largesse.
Individuals Challenge SSN Requirement
Why should Mainers [and others] care about this issue?
Consider the case of the California acupuncturist whose
refusal to provide his SSN on a license renewal application
resulted in the revocation of his license to practice
his profession? He sued in U.S. District Court (and lost);
he appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (where
he lost again); and his petition for a hearing is currently
pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
And then there's the guy in Kentucky who went to register
to vote and was told he had to provide his SSN in order
to be properly registered. He refused, was denied the
right to vote and then filed suit. His case is pending.
Assurances of confidentiality notwithstanding, all
citizens should be concerned about the proliferating
government efforts to obtain their SSNs without appropriate
justification.
If an 18-year-old in a basement somewhere can "hack"
into the Pentagon, Yahoo!, Amazon.com and other major
Web sites, how hard do you think it would be for them
to hack Maine DMV's database, steal your SSN (and hence
your identity) and either sell that information at a
considerable profit or use it to commit major fraud
against you and your assets and your identity?
Paul G. Vielmetti is an attorney, columnist, and
information technology professional. This editorial
was reprinted with Mr. Vielmetti's permission.
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| All
citizens should be concerned about the proliferating
government efforts to obtain their Social Security
Numbers (SSNs) without appropriate justification.
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