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 A.D.
All Rights Reserved
 

---

Return to Table of Contents for

Public Law 93-579

---