A bill on Capitol Hill could prevent universities from using a student’s Social Security number as an identification number.
The Personal Information Privacy Act introduced last year by U.S. Rep. Jerry Kleczka (D-Wis.) would amend the Social Security Act to prohibit the commercial use of Social Security numbers without an owner’s written consent. The bill is in the House Ways and Means Committee
Whether GW will be affected by PIPA is still uncertain at this time because the legislation is phrased only to include government-run colleges. But it could be revised before coming up for a vote.
“The position of a private school seems more restrictive,” according to a letter from Lawrence Johnston, who works in the Office of the Legislative Council of the House of Representatives.
“If this law gets passed, the registration system could handle it,” said GW Registrar Brian Salinsky. “We would have to do some programming, but it would not be impossible.”
But some GW staffers said changing identification numbers would be a hassle for University administrators.
“We would have to assign everyone a student number and that would mean a lot of work for a lot of people in the registrar’s office,” said GWorld card office staff member Ann Gutierrez.
Students, however, said they think creating new identification numbers would be safer than using Social Security numbers.
“I don’t think it is safe, because once people get (your Social Security numbers) they can do anything with it,” said student Laura Mauck.
“The (GWizard kiosk) is the problem because your Social Security number is shown and your PIN is hidden,” said student Karen Liu. “Anyone can figure out your birthday. I think it should be the other way around.”
Salinsky said a change in identification numbers would not adversely affect students.
“We made a conscious choice as a University to use Social Security numbers as student identification numbers,” Salinsky said. “But there is a field in the computer system that could hold another number that could serve as a (different) student identification number.”
Students are not the only ones facing problems with the use of their Social Security numbers. Kleczka’s communications director, Dave Patrick de Felice, said the congressman was contacted by several constituents who had problems with misuse of their personal information.
One man said his granddaughter’s Social Security number was stolen from her at work, and the thief used it to access her credit card and run up debt in her name, according to a fact sheet provided by Kleczka’s office.
The Social Security Administration reported a rise in Social Security number fraud from 305 cases in 1996 to 1,153 cases in 1997, de Felice said.
He said PIPA would be implemented years after passage, which would give businesses and credit bureaus sufficient time to comply with the provisions.
