II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1208 

To provide additional security and privacy protection for social security 

account numbers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 25, 2007 

Mr. DORGAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To provide additional security and privacy protection for 

social security account numbers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Social Security Ac5 count Number Protection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER PROTECTION. 

7 (a) PROHIBITION OF UNNECESSARY SOLICITATION

8 OF SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Unless there is a specific 

10 use of a social security account number for which no 


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1 other identifier reasonably can be used, a covered 

2 entity may not solicit a social security account num3 ber from an individual except for the following pur4 poses: 

5 (A) For use in an identification, 

6 verification, accuracy, or identity proofing proc7 ess. 

8 (B) For any purpose permitted under the 

9 Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et 

10 seq.) or the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 

11 U.S.C. 6802(e)). 

12 (C) To comply with the requirement of 

13 Federal, State, or local law. 

14 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) does not 

15 apply to the solicitation of a social security account 

16 number— 

17 (A) for the purpose of obtaining a con18 sumer report for any purpose permitted under 

19 the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 

20 et seq.), 

21 (B) by a consumer reporting agency for 

22 the purpose of authenticating or obtaining ap23 propriate proof of a consumer’s identity, as re24 quired under that Act; 


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1 (C) for any purpose permitted under sec2 tion 502(e) of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 

3 U.S.C. 6802(e)); or 

4 (D) to the extent necessary for verifying 

5 the accuracy of information submitted by an in6 dividual to a covered entity, its agents, contrac7 tors, or employees or for the purpose of authen8 ticating or obtaining appropriate proof of an in9 dividual’s identity; 

10 (E) to identity or locate missing or ab11 ducted children, witnesses, criminals, fugitives, 

12 parties to lawsuits, parents delinquent in child 

13 support payments, organ and bone marrow do14 nors, pension fund beneficiaries, and missing 

15 heirs; 

16 (F) to the extent necessary to prevent, de17 tect, or investigate fraud, unauthorized trans18 actions, or other financial liability or to facili19 tate the enforcement of an obligation of, or col20 lection of a debt from, a consumer, provided 

21 that the person selling, providing, displaying, or 

22 obtaining the social security account number 

23 does not do so for marketing purposes. 


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1 (b) PROHIBITION OF THE DISPLAY OF SOCIAL SECU2 RITY NUMBERS ON EMPLOYEE IDENTIFICATION CARDS, 

3 ETC.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—A covered entity may not 

5 display an individual’s security account number (or 

6 any derivative of such number) on any card or tag 

7 that is commonly provided to employees (or to their 

8 family members), faculty, staff, or students for pur9 poses of identification. 

10 (2) DRIVER’S LICENSES.—A State may not dis11 play the social security account number of an indi12 vidual on driver’s licenses issued by that State. 

13 (c) PROHIBITION OF PRISONER ACCESS TO SOCIAL

14 SECURITY NUMBERS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 205(c)(2)(C) of the 

16 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405(c)(2)(C)) is 

17 amended by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(x) No executive, legislative, or judi19 cial agency or instrumentality of the Fed20 eral Government or of a State or political 

21 subdivision thereof (or person acting as an 

22 agent of such an agency or instrumen23 tality) may employ, or enter into a con24 tract for the use or employment of, pris25 oners in any capacity that would allow 


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1 such prisoners access to the social security 

2 account numbers of other individuals. For 

3 purposes of this clause, the term ‘prisoner’ 

4 means an individual who is confined in a 

5 jail, prison, or other penal institution or 

6 correctional facility, serving community 

7 service as a term of probation or parole, or 

8 serving a sentence through a work-fur9 lough program.’’. 

10 (2) TREATMENT OF CURRENT ARRANGE11 MENTS.—In the case of— 

12 (A) prisoners employed as described in 

13 clause (x) of section 205(c)(2)(C) of the Social 

14 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405(c)(2)(C)), as 

15 added by paragraph (1), on the date of enact16 ment of this Act; and 

17 (B) contracts described in such clause in 

18 effect on such date, 

19 the amendment made by paragraph (1) shall take ef20 fect 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 

21 (d) PROHIBITION OF SALE AND DISPLAY OF SOCIAL

22 SECURITY NUMBERS TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para24 graph (2), it shall be unlawful for any person— 


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1 (A) to sell, purchase, or provide a social se2 curity account number, to the general public or 

3 display to the general public social security ac4 count numbers; or 

5 (B) to obtain or use any individual’s social 

6 security account number for the purpose of lo7 cating or identifying such individual with the 

8 intent to physically injure or harm such indi9 vidual or using the identity of such individual 

10 for any illegal purpose. 

11 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding paragraph 

12 (1), and subject to paragraph (4), a social security 

13 account number may be sold, provided, displayed, or 

14 obtained by any person— 

15 (A) to the extent necessary for law enforce16 ment or national security purposes; 

17 (B) to the extent necessary for public 

18 health purposes; 

19 (C) to the extent necessary in emergency 

20 situations to protect the health or safety of 1 

21 or more individuals; 

22 (D) to the extent that the sale or display 

23 is required, authorized, or permitted under any 

24 law of the United States or of any State (or po25 litical subdivision thereof); 


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1 (E) for any purposes allowed under the 

2 Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et 

3 seq.) or the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 

4 U.S.C. 6802(e)); 

5 (F) to the extent necessary for verifying 

6 the accuracy of information submitted by an in7 dividual to a covered entity, its agents, contrac8 tors, or employees or for the purpose of authen9 ticating or obtaining appropriate proof of the 

10 individual’s identity; 

11 (G) to the extent necessary to identify or 

12 locate missing or abducted children, witnesses 

13 to an ongoing or potential civil or criminal law14 suit, criminals, criminal suspects, parties to 

15 lawsuits, parents delinquent in child support 

16 payments, organ and bone marrow donors, pen17 sion fund beneficiaries, missing heirs, and for 

18 similar legal, medical, or family related pur19 poses, if the person selling, providing, dis20 playing, or obtaining the social security account 

21 number does not do so for marketing purposes; 

22 (H) to the extent necessary to prevent, de23 tect, or investigate fraud, unauthorized trans24 actions, or other financial liability or to facili25 tate the enforcement of an obligation of, or colVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:01 May 01, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1208.IS S1208

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1 lection of a debt from, a consumer, if the per2 son selling, providing, displaying, or obtaining 

3 the social security account number does not do 

4 so for marketing purposes; 

5 (I) to the extent the transmission of the 

6 number is incidental to, and in the course of, 

7 the sale, lease, franchising, or merger of all, or 

8 a portion of, a business; or 

9 (J) to the extent necessary for research 

10 (other than market research) conducted by an 

11 agency or instrumentality of the United States 

12 or of a State or political subdivision thereof (or 

13 an agent of such an agency or instrumentality) 

14 for the purpose of advancing the public good, 

15 on the condition that the researcher provides 

16 adequate assurances that— 

17 (i) the social security account num18 bers will not be used to harass, target, or 

19 publicly reveal information concerning any 

20 identifiable individuals; 

21 (ii) information about identifiable in22 dividuals obtained from the research will 

23 not be used to make decisions that directly 

24 affect the rights, benefits, or privileges of 

25 specific individuals; and 


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1 (iii) the researcher has in place appro2 priate safeguards to protect the privacy 

3 and confidentiality of any information 

4 about identifiable individuals, including 

5 procedures to ensure that the social secu6 rity account numbers will be encrypted or 

7 otherwise appropriately secured from unau8 thorized disclosure; or 

9 (K) to the extent that the transmission of 

10 the social security account number is incidental 

11 to the sale or provision of a document lawfully 

12 obtained from— 

13 (i) the Federal Government or a State 

14 or local government, that the document 

15 has been made available to the general 

16 public; or 

17 (ii) the document has been made 

18 available to the general public via widely 

19 distributed media. 

20 (3) LIMITATION.—Paragraph (2)(K) does not 

21 apply to information obtained from publicly available 

22 sources or from Federal, State, or local government 

23 records if that information is combined with infor24 mation obtained from non-public sources. 


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1 (4) CONSENSUAL SALE.—Notwithstanding 

2 paragraph (1), a social security account number as3 signed to an individual may be sold, provided, or dis4 played to the general public by any person to the ex5 tent consistent with such individual’s voluntary and 

6 affirmative written consent to the sale, provision, or 

7 display of the social security account number only 

8 if— 

9 (A) the terms of the consent and the right 

10 to refuse consent are presented to the individual 

11 in a clear, conspicuous, and understandable 

12 manner; 

13 (B) the individual is placed under no obli14 gation to provide consent to any such sale or 

15 display; and 

16 (C) the terms of the consent authorize the 

17 individual to limit the sale, provision, or display 

18 to purposes directly associated with the trans19 action with respect to which the consent is 

20 sought. 

21 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT. 

22 (a) ENFORCEMENT BY COMMISSION.—Except as pro23 vided in subsection (c), this Act shall be enforced by the 

24 Commission. 


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1 (b) VIOLATION IS UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACT OR

2 PRACTICE.—The violation of any provision of this Act 

3 shall be treated as an unfair or deceptive act or practice 

4 proscribed under a rule issued under section 18(a)(1)(B) 

5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 

6 57a(a)(1)(B)). 

7 (c) ENFORCEMENT BY CERTAIN OTHER AGEN8 CIES.—Compliance with this Act shall be enforced exclu9 sively under— 

10 (1) section 8 of the Federal Deposit Insurance 

11 Act (12 U.S.C. 1818), in the case of— 

12 (A) national banks, and Federal branches 

13 and Federal agencies of foreign banks by the 

14 Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; 

15 (B) member banks of the Federal Reserve 

16 System (other than national banks), branches 

17 and agencies of foreign banks (other than Fed18 eral branches, Federal agencies, and insured 

19 State branches of foreign banks), commercial 

20 lending companies owned or controlled by for21 eign banks, organizations operating under sec22 tion 25 or 25A of the Federal Reserve Act (12 

23 U.S.C. 601 and 611) by the Board of Gov24 ernors of the Federal Reserve System; 


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1 (C) banks insured by the Federal Deposit 

2 Insurance Corporation (other than members of 

3 the Federal Reserve System), insured State 

4 branches of foreign banks by the Board of Di5 rectors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Cor6 poration; and 

7 (D) savings associations the deposits of 

8 which are insured by the Federal Deposit In9 surance Corporation by the Director of the Of10 fice of Thrift Supervision; 

11 (2) the Federal Credit Union Act (12 U.S.C. 

12 1751 et seq.) by the Board of the National Credit 

13 Union Administration Board with respect to any 

14 Federal credit union; 

15 (3) the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 

16 (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.) by the Securities and Ex17 change Commission with respect to— 

18 (A) a broker or dealer subject to that Act; 

19 (B) an investment company subject to the 

20 Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 

21 80a–1 et seq.); and 

22 (C) an investment advisor subject to the 

23 Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 

24 80b–1 et seq.); and 


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1 (4) State insurance law, in the case of any per2 son engaged in providing insurance, by the applica3 ble State insurance authority of the State in which 

4 the person is domiciled. 

5 (d) EXERCISE OF CERTAIN POWERS.—For the pur6 pose of the exercise by any agency referred to in sub7 section (c) of its powers under any Act referred to in that 

8 subsection, a violation of this Act is deemed to be a viola9 tion of a requirement imposed under that Act. In addition 

10 to its powers under any provision of law specifically re11 ferred to in subsection (c), each of the agencies referred 

12 to in that subsection may exercise, for the purpose of en13 forcing compliance with any requirement imposed under 

14 this Act, any other authority conferred on it by law. 

15 (e) OTHER AUTHORITY NOT AFFECTED.—Nothing 

16 in this Act shall be construed to limit or affect in any 

17 way the Commission’s authority to bring enforcement ac18 tions or take any other measure under the Federal Trade 

19 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) or any other provi20 sion of law. 

21 (f) COMPLIANCE WITH GRAMM-LEACH-BLILEY

22 ACT.— 

23 (1) NOTICE.—Any covered entity that is subject 

24 to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 6801 et. 

25 seq.), and gives notice in compliance with the notifiVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:01 May 01, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1208.IS S1208

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1 cation requirements established for such covered en2 tities under title V of that Act is deemed to be in 

3 compliance with section 3 of this Act. 

4 (2) SAFEGUARDS.—Any covered entity that is 

5 subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 

6 6801 et. seq.), and fulfills the information protection 

7 requirements established for such entities under title 

8 V of the Act and under section 607(a) of the Fair 

9 Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681e(a)) to pro10 tect sensitive personal information shall be deemed 

11 to be in compliance with section 2 of this Act. 

12 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT BY STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in section 

14 3(c), a State, as parens patriae, may bring a civil action 

15 on behalf of its residents in an appropriate state or district 

16 court of the United States to enforce the provisions of this 

17 Act, to obtain damages, restitution, or other compensation 

18 on behalf of such residents, or to obtain such further and 

19 other relief as the court may deem appropriate, whenever 

20 the attorney general of the State has reason to believe that 

21 the interests of the residents of the State have been or 

22 are being threatened or adversely affected by a covered 

23 entity that violates this Act or a regulation under this Act. 

24 (b) NOTICE.—The State shall serve written notice to 

25 the Commission (or other appropriate Federal regulator 


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1 under section 3) of any civil action under subsection (a) 

2 at least 60 days prior to initiating such civil action. The 

3 notice shall include a copy of the complaint to be filed 

4 to initiate such civil action, except that if it is not feasible 

5 for the State to provide such prior notice, the State shall 

6 provide such notice immediately upon instituting such civil 

7 action. 

8 (c) AUTHORITY TO INTERVENE.—Upon receiving the 

9 notice required by subsection (b), the Commission (or 

10 other appropriate Federal regulator under section 8) may 

11 intervene in such civil action and upon intervening— 

12 (1) be heard on all matters arising in such civil 

13 action; and 

14 (2) file petitions for appeal of a decision in such 

15 civil action. 

16 (d) CONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of bringing any 

17 civil action under subsection (a), nothing in this section 

18 shall prevent the attorney general of a State from exer19 cising the powers conferred on the attorney general by the 

20 laws of such State to conduct investigations or to admin21 ister oaths or affirmations or to compel the attendance 

22 of witnesses or the production of documentary and other 

23 evidence. 

24 (e) VENUE; SERVICE OF PROCESS.—In a civil action 

25 brought under subsection (a)— 


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1 (1) the venue shall be a judicial district in 

2 which— 

3 (A) the covered entity operates; or 

4 (B) the covered entity was authorized to do 

5 business; 

6 (2) process may be served without regard to the 

7 territorial limits of the district or of the State in 

8 which the civil action is instituted; and 

9 (3) a person who participated with a covered 

10 entity in an alleged violation that is being litigated 

11 in the civil action may be joined in the civil action 

12 without regard to the residence of the person. 

13 (f) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION WHILE FEDERAL

14 ACTION IS PENDING.—If the Commission (or other appro15 priate Federal agency under section 3) has instituted a 

16 civil action or an administrative action for violation of this 

17 Act, no State attorney general, or official or agency of a 

18 State, may bring an action under this subsection during 

19 the pendency of that action against any defendant named 

20 in the complaint of the Commission or the other agency 

21 for any violation of this Act alleged in the complaint. 

22 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

23 In this Act: 

24 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

25 means the Federal Trade Commission. 


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1 (2) SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBER.—The 

2 term ‘‘social security account number’’ means a so3 cial security account number that contains more 

4 than 5 digits of the full 9-digit number assigned by 

5 the Social Security Administration but does not in6 clude social security account numbers to the extent 

7 that they are included in a publicly available infor8 mation source, such as news reports, books, periodi9 cals, or directories or Federal, State, or local govern10 ment records. 

Æ 


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