[EMMAS] Government IDs and Identity Theft
che...@cecs.pdx.edu
Government IDs and Identity Theft
Before the US House of Representatives International Relations Committee
by Rep. Ron Paul, MD
01/12/05 -- Mr. Speaker, today I introduce the Identity Theft
Prevention Act. This act protects the American people from
government-mandated uniform identifiers that facilitate private crime
as well as the abuse of liberty. The major provision of the Identity
Theft Prevention Act halts the practice of using the Social Security
number as an identifier by requiring the Social Security Administration
to issue all Americans new Social Security numbers within five years
after the enactment of the bill. These new numbers will be the sole
legal property of the recipient, and the Social Security administration
shall be forbidden to divulge the numbers for any purposes not related
to Social Security administration. Social Security numbers issued
before implementation of this bill shall no longer be considered valid
federal identifiers. Of course, the Social Security Administration
shall be able to use an individual's original Social Security number to
ensure efficient administration of the Social Security system.
Mr. Speaker, Congress has a moral responsibility to address this
problem because it was Congress that transformed the Social Security
number into a national identifier. Thanks to Congress, today no
American can get a job, open a bank account, get a professional
license, or even get a driver's license without presenting his Social
Security number. So widespread has the use of the Social Security
number become that a member of my staff had to produce a Social
Security number in order to get a fishing license!
One of the most disturbing abuses of the Social Security number is the
congressionally-authorized rule forcing parents to get a Social
Security number for their newborn children in order to claim the
children as dependents. Forcing parents to register their children with
the state is more like something out of the nightmares of George Orwell
than the dreams of a free republic that inspired this nation's
founders.
Congressionally-mandated use of the Social Security number as an
identifier facilitates the horrendous crime of identity theft. Thanks
to Congress, an unscrupulous person may simply obtain someone's Social
Security number in order to access that person's bank accounts, credit
cards, and other financial assets. Many Americans have lost their life
savings and had their credit destroyed as a result of identity theft.
Yet the federal government continues to encourage such crimes by
mandating use of the Social Security number as a uniform ID!
This act also forbids the federal government from creating national ID
cards or establishing any identifiers for the purpose of investigating,
monitoring, overseeing, or regulating private transactions among
American citizens. At the very end of the 108th Congress, this body
established a de facto national ID card with a provisions buried in the
intelligence reform bill mandating federal standards for drivers
licenses, and mandating that federal agents only accept a license that
conforms to these standards as a valid ID.
Nationalizing standards for driver's licenses and birth certificates
creates a national ID system pure and simple. Proponents of the
national ID understand that the public remains wary of the scheme, so
proponents attempt to claim they are merely creating new standards for
existing state IDs. However, the intelligence reform legislation
imposed federal standards in a federal bill, thus creating a
federalized ID regardless of whether the ID itself is still stamped
with the name of your state. It is just a matter of time until those
who refuse to carry the new licenses will be denied the ability to
drive or board an airplane. Domestic travel restrictions are the
hallmark of authoritarian states, not free republics.
The national ID will be used to track the movements of American
citizens, not just terrorists. Subjecting every citizen to surveillance
diverts resources away from tracking and apprehending terrorists in
favor of needless snooping on innocent Americans. This is what happened
with "suspicious activity reports" required by the Bank Secrecy Act.
Thanks to BSA mandates, federal officials are forced to waste countless
hours snooping through the private financial transactions of innocent
Americans merely because those transactions exceeded $10,000.
The Identity Theft Prevention Act repeals those sections of federal
law creating the national ID, as well as those sections of the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 that require the
Department of Health and Human Services to establish a uniform standard
health identifier an identifier which could be used to create a
national database containing the medical history of all Americans. As
an OB/GYN with more than 30 years in private practice, I know the
importance of preserving the sanctity of the physician-patient
relationship. Oftentimes, effective treatment depends on a patient's
ability to place absolute trust in his or her doctor. What will happen
to that trust when patients know that any and all information given to
their doctors will be placed in a government-accessible database?
By putting an end to government-mandated uniform IDs, the Identity
Theft Prevention Act will prevent millions of Americans from having
their liberty, property, and privacy violated by private and public
sector criminals.
In addition to forbidding the federal government from creating
national identifiers, this legislation forbids the federal government
from blackmailing states into adopting uniform standard identifiers by
withholding federal funds. One of the most onerous practices of
Congress is the use of federal funds illegitimately taken from the
American people to bribe states into obeying federal dictates.
Some members of Congress will claim that the federal government needs
the power to monitor Americans in order to allow the government to
operate more efficiently. I would remind my colleagues that, in a
constitutional republic, the people are never asked to sacrifice their
liberties to make the jobs of government officials easier. We are here
to protect the freedom of the American people, not to make privacy
invasion more efficient.
Mr. Speaker, while I do not question the sincerity of those members
who suggest that Congress can ensure that citizens' rights are
protected through legislation restricting access to personal
information, the only effective privacy protection is to forbid the
federal government from mandating national identifiers. Legislative
"privacy protections'' are inadequate to protect the liberty of
Americans for a couple of reasons.
First, it is simply common sense that repealing those federal laws
that promote identity theft is more effective in protecting the public
than expanding the power of the federal police force. Federal
punishment of identity thieves provides cold comfort to those who have
suffered financial losses and the destruction of their good reputations
as a result of identity theft.
Federal laws are not only ineffective in stopping private criminals,
but these laws have not even stopped unscrupulous government officials
from accessing personal information. After all, laws purporting to
restrict the use of personal information did not stop the
well-publicized violations of privacy by IRS officials or the FBI
abuses of the Clinton and Nixon administrations.
In one of the most infamous cases of identity theft, thousands of
active-duty soldiers and veterans had their personal information
stolen, putting them at risk of identity theft. Imagine the dangers if
thieves are able to obtain the universal identifier, and other personal
information, of millions of Americans simply by breaking, or hacking,
into one government facility or one government database?
Second, the federal government has been creating proprietary interests
in private information for certain state-favored special interests.
Perhaps the most outrageous example of phony privacy protection is the
medical privacy' regulation, that allows medical researchers, certain
business interests, and law enforcement officials access to health care
information, in complete disregard of the Fifth Amendment and the
wishes of individual patients! Obviously, "privacy protection'' laws
have proven greatly inadequate to protect personal information when the
government is the one seeking the information.
Any action short of repealing laws authorizing privacy violations is
insufficient primarily because the federal government lacks
constitutional authority to force citizens to adopt a universal
identifier for health care, employment, or any other reason. Any
federal action that oversteps constitutional limitations violates
liberty because it ratifies the principle that the federal government,
not the Constitution, is the ultimate judge of its own jurisdiction
over the people. The only effective protection of the rights of
citizens is for Congress to follow Thomas Jefferson's advice and "bind
(the federal government) down with the chains of the Constitution.
Mr. Speaker, those members who are not persuaded by the moral and
constitutional reasons for embracing the Identity Theft Prevention Act
should consider the American peoples opposition to national
identifiers. The numerous complaints over the ever-growing uses of the
Social Security number show that Americans want Congress to stop
invading their privacy. Furthermore, according to a survey by the
Gallup company, 91 percent of the American people oppose forcing
Americans to obtain a universal health ID.
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I once again call on my colleagues to join
me in putting an end to the federal government's unconstitutional use
of national identifiers to monitor the actions of private citizens.
National identifiers threaten all Americans by exposing them to the
threat of identity theft by private criminals and abuse of their
liberties by public criminals, while diverting valuable law enforcement
resources away from addressing real threats to public safety. In
addition, national identifiers are incompatible with a limited,
constitutional government. I, therefore, hope my colleagues will join
my efforts to protect the freedom of their constituents by supporting
the Identity Theft Prevention Act.
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Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas
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