II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1691 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to restrict the public display on 

the Internet of all or any portion of social security account numbers 

by State and local governments, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 25, 2007 

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

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to restrict the public 

display on the Internet of all or any portion of social 

security account numbers by State and local governments, and for other purposes. 

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 Num5 ber Online Protection Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) The inappropriate display of social security 

2 account numbers has contributed to a growing range 

3 of illegal activities, including fraud, identity theft, 

4 stalking, and other crimes that have a substantial 

5 effect on interstate commerce and public safety. 

6 (2) The Federal Government requires virtually 

7 every individual in the United States to obtain and 

8 maintain a social security account number in order 

9 to pay taxes, to qualify for old-age, survivors, and 

10 disability insurance benefits under title II of the So11 cial Security Act, or to seek employment. An unin12 tended consequence of these requirements is that so13 cial security account numbers have become one of 

14 the tools that can be used to facilitate crime, fraud, 

15 and invasions of the privacy of the individuals to 

16 whom the numbers are assigned. Because the Fed17 eral Government created and maintains this system, 

18 and because the Federal Government does not per19 mit individuals to exempt themselves from those re20 quirements, it is appropriate for the Federal Govern21 ment to take steps to stem the abuse of social secu22 rity account numbers. 

23 (3) In most jurisdictions throughout the United 

24 States, State and local law requires that certain 

25 public documents, such as business filings, property 


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1 records, and birth and marriage certificates, be 

2 made available to the general public. These docu3 ments may contain an individual’s social security ac4 count number. An increasing number of official 

5 records repositories, such as repositories maintained 

6 by a Secretary of State’s office or a local clerk’s of7 fice, are storing such records on the Internet. In a 

8 report issued in November 2004, the Government 

9 Accountability Office estimated that between 15 and 

10 28 percent of counties display records containing so11 cial security account numbers on the Internet, po12 tentially affecting millions of individuals. Due to a 

13 patchwork of practices and regulations, the risk of 

14 exposure of social security account numbers through 

15 the Internet is highly variable across States and lo16 calities. While online availability of public records 

17 improves access, it also increases the risk that social 

18 security account numbers will be widely displayed 

19 and misused. 


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1 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON THE DISPLAY TO THE GENERAL 

2 PUBLIC ON THE INTERNET OF ALL OR ANY 

3 PORTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT 

4 NUMBERS BY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERN5 MENTS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 88 of title 18, United 

7 States Code, is amended by inserting at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘§ 1802. Prohibition on the display to the general 

10 public on the Internet of all or any por11 tion of social security account numbers 

12 by State and local governments 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A State, a political subdivision 

14 of a State, or any officer, employee, or contractor of a 

15 State or a political subdivision of a State, shall not display 

16 to the general public on the Internet all or any portion 

17 of any social security account number. 

18 ‘‘(b) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION; DEEMED COMPLI19 ANCE.— 

20 ‘‘(1) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

21 this section shall be construed to supersede, alter, or 

22 affect— 

23 ‘‘(A) any restriction or limitation on the 

24 display to the general public on the Internet of 

25 all, or any part of, social security account num26 bers provided for in any statute, regulation, or 


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1 order of the Federal Government, a State, or a 

2 political subdivision of a State, or under any in3 terpretation of such a statute, regulation, or 

4 order, if the restriction or limitation is greater 

5 than that provided under this section; or 

6 ‘‘(B) any statute, regulation, or order of 

7 the Federal Government, a State, or a political 

8 subdivision of a State relating to the submission 

9 of a social security account number to a State 

10 or a political subdivision of a State. 

11 ‘‘(2) DEEMED COMPLIANCE.—A State, a polit12 ical subdivision of a State, or any officer, employee, 

13 or contractor of a State or a political subdivision of 

14 a State, shall be deemed to be in compliance with 

15 the requirements of subsection (a) if the State or po16 litical subdivision permits an individual to submit in 

17 addition to original material required to be sub18 mitted to the State or political subdivision that con19 tains all or any portion of the individual’s social se20 curity account number, a duplicate of the material 

21 that has all of the individual’s social security ac22 count number redacted. 

23 ‘‘(c) PENALTIES.—A State or a political subdivision 

24 of a State that has a policy or practice of substantial non25 compliance with this section shall be subject to a civil penVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:45 Jun 26, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1691.IS S1691

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1 alty imposed by the Attorney General of not more than 

2 $5,000 a day for each day of substantial noncompliance. 

3 ‘‘(d) ENFORCEMENT.—The Attorney General may 

4 bring a civil action against a State, a political subdivision 

5 of a State, or any officer, employee, or contractor of a 

6 State or a political subdivision of a State, in any appro7 priate United States District Court for appropriate relief 

8 with respect to a display to the general public on the Inter9 net of all or any portion of any social security account 

10 number in violation of this section. 

11 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) DISPLAY TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC ON

13 THE INTERNET.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘display to 

15 the general public on the Internet’ means, in 

16 connection with all or any portion of a social se17 curity account number, to place such number or 

18 any portion of such number, in a viewable man19 ner on an Internet site that is available to the 

20 general public, including any Internet site that 

21 requires a fee for access to information acces22 sible on or through the site. 

23 ‘‘(B) INCLUSION OF CERTAIN UNPRO24 TECTED TRANSMISSIONS.—In any case in which 

25 a State, a political subdivision of a State, or 


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1 any officer, employee, or contractor of a State 

2 or a political subdivision of a State, requires as 

3 a condition of doing business transmittal of all, 

4 or any part of, an individual’s social security 

5 account number by means of the Internet with6 out reasonable provisions to ensure that such 

7 number is encrypted or otherwise secured from 

8 disclosure, any such transmittal of such number 

9 shall be treated as a ‘display to the general 

10 public on the Internet’ for purposes of this sec11 tion. 

12 ‘‘(2) SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBER.— 

13 The term ‘social security account number’ means the 

14 account number assigned to an individual by the 

15 Commissioner of Social Security in the exercise of 

16 the Commissioner’s authority under section 

17 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act and includes 

18 any derivative of such number.’’. 

19 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The chapter analysis 

20 for chapter 88 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

21 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘1802. Prohibition on the display to the general public on the Internet of all 

or any portion of social security account numbers by State and 

local governments.’’. 

22 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

23 subsections (a) and (b) shall take effect on the date that 


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1 is 180 days after the date of enactment of ths Act and 

2 shall apply to violations occurring on or after that date. 

3 (d) NO RETROACTIVE APPLICATION.—Nothing in 

4 section 1802 of title 18, United States Code, as added by 

5 the amendments made by subsections (a) and (b), shall 

6 be construed as applying to the placement of all or any 

7 portion of a social security account number in a viewable 

8 manner on an Internet site that is available to the general 

9 public, including any Internet site that requires a fee for 

10 access to information accessible on or through the site, 

11 by a State, a political subdivision of a State, or any officer, 

12 employee, or contractor of a State or a political subdivision 

13 of a State, that is done prior to the effective date of such 

14 amendments. 

15 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO 

16 COME INTO COMPLIANCE WITH THE PROHI17 BITION ON THE DISPLAY TO THE GENERAL 

18 PUBLIC ON THE INTERNET OF ALL OR ANY 

19 PORTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT 

20 NUMBERS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall award 

22 grants to States and political subdivisions of States to 

23 carry out activities to remove or redact all social security 

24 account numbers from forms and records of executive, leg25 islative, and judicial agencies of States and political subVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:45 Jun 26, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1691.IS S1691

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1 divisions of States that, as of the date of enactment of 

2 this Act, have been displayed to the general public on the 

3 Internet and would be a violation of section 1802 of title 

4 18, United States Code, (as added by section 3) if that 

5 section had been in effect at the time such numbers were 

6 first displayed. 

7 (b) APPLICATION.—A State or political subdivision of 

8 a State desiring a grant under this section shall submit 

9 an application to the Attorney General at such time, in 

10 such manner, and containing such information as the At11 torney General shall require. 

12 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

13 authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General to 

14 carry out this section, $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

15 2008 and 2009. 

16 (d) DEFINITION OF STATE.—In this section, the term 

17 ‘‘State’’ means each of the 50 States, the District of Co18 lumbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United 

19 States Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Commonwealth of 

20 the Northern Marianas. 

Æ 


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