Time: Wed Nov 13 10:11:09 1996 To: From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SSN's and Privacy Cc: Bcc: liberty lists Disclosure of social security number. Act Dec. 31, 1974, P.L. 93-579, Section 7, 88 Stat. 1909, provided: "(a)(1) It shall be unlawful for any Federal, State or local government agency to deny to any individual any right, benefit, or privilege provided by law because of such individual's refusal to disclose his social security account number. "(2) the provisions of paragraph (1) of this subsection shall not apply with respect to -- "(A) any disclosure which is required by Federal statute, or "(B) the disclosure of a social security number to any Federal, State, or local agency maintaining a system of records in existence and operating before January 1, 1975, if such disclosure was required under statute or regulation adopted prior to such date to verify the identity of an individual. "(b) Any Federal, State, or local government agency which requests an individual to disclose his social security account number shall inform that individual whether that disclosure is mandatory or voluntary, by what statutory or other authority such number is solicited, and what uses will be made of it." Comments by Paul Mitchell follow: Congress deliberately failed to codify this statute in Title 5 of the United States Code. You will find it embedded at the end of the historical notes within the Privacy Act. When a government employee was sued for violating this Act, he asserted ignorance of the law as his defense. The court upheld this defense, thus creating an important exception to the general rule that ignorance of the law is no excuse. My reading of this decision is that the court was giving silent judicial notice to the fact that Congress actually "hid" the law; thus, the court's holding did not really overturn the maxim (ignorance is not excuse); it merely recognized that fraud vitiates everything, even the most solemn promises. I have taken this statute and reduced it down to the size of a standard credit card. Then, I laminated it in plastic and saved it in my wallet. Later, I gave it away to an attendee of one of Lynne Meredith's seminars; the attendee was mostly incredulous that such a law even existed. It is very easy to make another one. I prefer to take a photocopy right out of the law books, and to laminate that photocopy. Try it! It is always very powerful to witness these laws yourself, at the local county law library. Take this email message down to the reference librarian, and see if s/he can locate it for you. The Privacy Act can be found in the reference volume which lists statutes by name. Good luck! Paul Andrew Mitchell November, 1996 all rights reserved
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