[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 41 (Wednesday, April 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         CONGRESS MUST ATTEND TO PRIVACY ISSUES OF OUR CITIZENS

  (Mr. KANJORSKI asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KANJORSKI. Mr. Speaker, the newspapers are replete this week with 
IRS browsing of confidential information of American taxpayers' 
earnings. Recently, we read that Social Security is trying to outdo the 
IRS by putting on the Internet individual Americans' total lifetime 
earning records and making it easily accessible. Putting lifetime 
earning records of American citizens on the Internet is not user 
friendly, but abuser friendly.
  Mr. Speaker, I am preparing to introduce on April 15 a piece of 
legislation that will inhibit the Social Security Administration from 
carrying on this process and establish a commission to study what 
confidential information should be put on the records held by the 
Government, so that abusers cannot invade the privacy of American 
citizens.
  Imagine, anyone today can put a name, a Social Security number, a 
date of birth of that individual, the place of birth of that 
individual, and the mother's maiden name of that individual and get the 
information of lifetime earning records of that individual. That is 
abusive. This Congress must attend to the work of the privacy of 
American citizens. I urge my colleagues to join me in this legislation.

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