N.Y. PBO Law § 96-A — New York Code / Act PBO / Article 6-A / Section 96-A
Prohibited conduct
Status: in_force

§ 96-a. Prohibited conduct. 1. Beginning on January first, two\nthousand ten the state and its political subdivisions shall not do any\nof the following, unless required by law:\n  (a) Intentionally communicate to the general public or otherwise make\navailable to the general public in any manner an individual's social\nsecurity account number. This paragraph shall not apply to any\nindividual intentionally communicating to the general public or\notherwise making available to the general public his or her social\nsecurity account number.\n  (b) Print an individual's social security account number on any card\nor tag required for the individual to access products, services or\nbenefits provided by the state and its political subdivisions.\n  (c) Require an individual to transmit his or her social security\naccount number over the internet, unless the connection is secure or the\nsocial security account number is encrypted.\n  (d) Require an individual to use his or her social security account\nnumber to access an internet web site, unless a password or unique\npersonal identification number or other authentication device is also\nrequired to access the internet website.\n  (e) Include an individual's social security account number, except the\nlast four digits thereof, on any materials that are mailed to the\nindividual, or in any electronic mail that is copied to third parties,\nunless state or federal law requires the social security account number\nto be on the document to be mailed. Notwithstanding this paragraph,\nsocial security account numbers may be included in applications and\nforms sent by mail, including documents sent as part of an application\nor enrollment process, or to establish, amend or terminate an account,\ncontract or policy, or to confirm the accuracy of the social security\naccount number. A social security account number that is permitted to be\nmailed under this section may not be printed, in whole or in part, on a\npostcard or other mailer not requiring an envelope, or visible on the\nenvelope or without the envelope having been opened.\n  (f) Encode or embed a social security number in or on a card or\ndocument, including, but not limited to, using a bar code, chip,\nmagnetic strip, or other technology, in place of removing the social\nsecurity number as required by this section.\n  (g) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a county clerk or court\nfrom making available a document publicly recorded or filed prior to the\neffective date of this section, provided that if any individual requests\nredaction of a social security number from a publicly recorded document\navailable to the public online, such number shall be promptly redacted\nby the county clerk. Nothing in this section shall limit disclosure of\ncriminal history record information currently permitted.\n  2. As used in this section "social security account number" shall\ninclude the nine digit account number issued by the federal social\nsecurity administration and any number derived therefrom. Such term\nshall not include any number that has been encrypted.\n  3. This section does not prevent the collection, use or release of a\nsocial security account number as required by state or federal law, or\nthe use of a social security account number for internal verification,\nfraud investigation or administrative purposes.\n