IP: Uncle Sam Has All Your Numbers

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>From: "the terminal of Geoff Goodfellow" <geoff@iconia.com>
>To: "Dave e-mail pamphleteer Farber" <farber@cis.upenn.edu>
>
>
>Uncle Sam Has All Your Numbers
>
>By Robert O'Harrow Jr.
>Washington Post Staff Writer
>Sunday, June 27, 1999; Page A1
>
>As part of a new and aggressive effort to track down parents who owe child
>support, the federal government has created a vast computerized data-monitoring
>system that includes all individuals with new jobs and the names, addresses,
>Social Security numbers and wages of nearly every working adult in the United
>States.
>
>Government agencies have long gathered personal information for specific
>reasons, such as collecting taxes. But never before have federal officials had
>the legal authority and technological ability to locate so many Americans found
>to be delinquent parents ­ or such potential to keep tabs on Americans accused
>of nothing.
>
>The system was established under a little-known part of the law overhauling
>welfare three years ago. It calls for all employers to quickly file reports on
>every person they hire and, quarterly, the wages of every worker. States
>regularly must report all people seeking unemployment benefits and all
>child-support cases.
>
>Starting next month, the system will reach further. Large banks and other
>financial institutions will be obligated to search for data about delinquent
>parents by name on behalf of the government, providing authorities with details
>about bank accounts, money-market mutual funds and other holdings of those
>parents. State officials, meanwhile, have sharply expanded the use of Social
>Security numbers. Congress ordered the officials to obtain the nine-digit
>numbers when issuing licenses ­ such as drivers', doctors' and outdoorsmen's ­
>in order to revoke the licenses of delinquents.
>
>Enforcement officials say the coupling of computer technology with details
>about individuals' employment and financial holdings will give them an
>unparalleled ability to identify and locate parents who owe child support and,
>when necessary, withhold money from their paychecks or freeze their financial
>assets.
><snip>
>[The rest cut - article available at url below.]
>
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/daily/june99/privacy27.htm
>
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