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[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1691 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Social Security Number Online 
Protection Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The inappropriate display of social security account 
        numbers has contributed to a growing range of illegal 
        activities, including fraud, identity theft, stalking, and 
        other crimes that have a substantial effect on interstate 
        commerce and public safety.
            (2) The Federal Government requires virtually every 
        individual in the United States to obtain and maintain a social 
        security account number in order to pay taxes, to qualify for 
        old-age, survivors, and disability insurance benefits under 
        title II of the Social Security Act, or to seek employment. An 
        unintended consequence of these requirements is that social 
        security account numbers have become one of the tools that can 
        be used to facilitate crime, fraud, and invasions of the 
        privacy of the individuals to whom the numbers are assigned. 
        Because the Federal Government created and maintains this 
        system, and because the Federal Government does not permit 
        individuals to exempt themselves from those requirements, it is 
        appropriate for the Federal Government to take steps to stem 
        the abuse of social security account numbers.
            (3) In most jurisdictions throughout the United States, 
        State and local law requires that certain public documents, 
        such as business filings, property records, and birth and 
        marriage certificates, be made available to the general public. 
        These documents may contain an individual's social security 
        account number. An increasing number of official records 
        repositories, such as repositories maintained by a Secretary of 
        State's office or a local clerk's office, are storing such 
        records on the Internet. In a report issued in November 2004, 
        the Government Accountability Office estimated that between 15 
        and 28 percent of counties display records containing social 
        security account numbers on the Internet, potentially affecting 
        millions of individuals. Due to a patchwork of practices and 
        regulations, the risk of exposure of social security account 
        numbers through the Internet is highly variable across States 
        and localities. While online availability of public records 
        improves access, it also increases the risk that social 
        security account numbers will be widely displayed and misused.

SEC. 3. 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.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 88 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting at the end the following:
``Sec. 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
    ``(a) In General.--A State, a political subdivision of a State, or 
any officer, employee, or contractor of a State or a political 
subdivision of a State, shall not display to the general public on the 
Internet all or any portion of any social security account number.
    ``(b) Rules of Construction; Deemed Compliance.--
            ``(1) Rules of construction.--Nothing in this section shall 
        be construed to supersede, alter, or affect--
                    ``(A) any restriction or limitation on the display 
                to the general public on the Internet of all, or any 
                part of, social security account numbers provided for 
                in any statute, regulation, or order of the Federal 
                Government, a State, or a political subdivision of a 
                State, or under any interpretation of such a statute, 
                regulation, or order, if the restriction or limitation 
                is greater than that provided under this section; or
                    ``(B) any statute, regulation, or order of the 
                Federal Government, a State, or a political subdivision 
                of a State relating to the submission of a social 
                security account number to a State or a political 
                subdivision of a State.
            ``(2) Deemed compliance.--A State, a political subdivision 
        of a State, or any officer, employee, or contractor of a State 
        or a political subdivision of a State, shall be deemed to be in 
        compliance with the requirements of subsection (a) if the State 
        or political subdivision permits an individual to submit in 
        addition to original material required to be submitted to the 
        State or political subdivision that contains all or any portion 
        of the individual's social security account number, a duplicate 
        of the material that has all of the individual's social 
        security account number redacted.
    ``(c) Penalties.--A State or a political subdivision of a State 
that has a policy or practice of substantial noncompliance with this 
section shall be subject to a civil penalty imposed by the Attorney 
General of not more than $5,000 a day for each day of substantial 
noncompliance.
    ``(d) Enforcement.--The Attorney General may bring a civil action 
against a State, a political subdivision of a State, or any officer, 
employee, or contractor of a State or a political subdivision of a 
State, in any appropriate United States District Court for appropriate 
relief with respect to a display to the general public on the Internet 
of all or any portion of any social security account number in 
violation of this section.
    ``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Display to the general public on the internet.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `display to the general 
                public on the Internet' means, in connection with all 
                or any portion of a social security account number, to 
                place such number or any portion of such number, in a 
                viewable manner on an Internet site that is available 
                to the general public, including any Internet site that 
                requires a fee for access to information accessible on 
                or through the site.
                    ``(B) Inclusion of certain unprotected 
                transmissions.--In any case in which a State, a 
                political subdivision of a State, or any officer, 
                employee, or contractor of a State or a political 
                subdivision of a State, requires as a condition of 
                doing business transmittal of all, or any part of, an 
                individual's social security account number by means of 
                the Internet without reasonable provisions to ensure 
                that such number is encrypted or otherwise secured from 
                disclosure, any such transmittal of such number shall 
                be treated as a `display to the general public on the 
                Internet' for purposes of this section.
            ``(2) Social security account number.--The term `social 
        security account number' means the account number assigned to 
        an individual by the Commissioner of Social Security in the 
        exercise of the Commissioner's authority under section 
        205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act and includes any 
        derivative of such number.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The chapter analysis for chapter 88 of 
title 18, United States Code, is amended 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.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) 
shall take effect on the date that is 180 days after the date of 
enactment of ths Act and shall apply to violations occurring on or 
after that date.
    (d) No Retroactive Application.--Nothing in section 1802 of title 
18, United States Code, as added by the amendments made by subsections 
(a) and (b), shall be construed as applying to the placement of all or 
any portion of a social security account number in a viewable manner on 
an Internet site that is available to the general public, including any 
Internet site that requires a fee for access to information accessible 
on or through the site, by a State, a political subdivision of a State, 
or any officer, employee, or contractor of a State or a political 
subdivision of a State, that is done prior to the effective date of 
such amendments.

SEC. 4. GRANTS TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO COME INTO COMPLIANCE 
              WITH THE PROHIBITION ON THE DISPLAY TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC 
              ON THE INTERNET OF ALL OR ANY PORTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY 
              ACCOUNT NUMBERS.

    (a) In General.--The Attorney General shall award grants to States 
and political subdivisions of States to carry out activities to remove 
or redact all social security account numbers from forms and records of 
executive, legislative, and judicial agencies of States and political 
subdivisions of States that, as of the date of enactment of this Act, 
have been displayed to the general public on the Internet and would be 
a violation of section 1802 of title 18, United States Code, (as added 
by section 3) if that section had been in effect at the time such 
numbers were first displayed.
    (b) Application.--A State or political subdivision of a State 
desiring a grant under this section shall submit an application to the 
Attorney General at such time, in such manner, and containing such 
information as the Attorney General shall require.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Attorney General to carry out this section, 
$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 and 2009.
    (d) Definition of State.--In this section, the term ``State'' means 
each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 
Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.
                                 <all>
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