Time: Tue Dec 02 16:06:58 1997
To: Jay Robbins <han-wi@ri.ultranet.com>
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: Any Thoughts?
Cc:
Bcc:
References:
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
At 05:51 PM 12/2/97, you wrote:
>Dear Jay,
> This is another one of those urgent matters I need info on right away.
> I
>have a program coming up Wednesday with Larry Becraft and one of the topics
>will
>cover is one I just heard about last night and that is how the State of
>Connecticut is mandating that the Registrar of Voters in each town submit
>copies
>of voter registration forms with Social Security numbers to the state and to
>give copies to a PRIVATE agency that compilies jury lists. Some towns have
>refused the requests while others have blindly granted it. I am about to find
>out if my town, the town of Windham had granted those requests.
> Larry will be able to tell me what I need to know but I am hoping to
>get a
>head start on this because I am afraid time is against Connecticut
>residents who
>gave SSNs on voter registration cards. Fortunately I never supplied one so
>personally I have nothing to worry about. I want to know how illegal it is
>for
>them to do it. I looked under 5 UCS Sec. 552a but my finding is that this
>does
>not relate to state or local agencies. Can you help? I want to get some
>ammo
>ready to present to the registrar of voters as well as the First Selectman.
>Thanks!!!
> Jay Robbins
> 4 Your Information
> PO Box 672
> Woonsocket, RI 02895
> Email: han-wi@ri.ultranet.com
> Voicemail:1-800-947-1902
> Website: http://www.ultranet.com/~han-wi
> IRS: We've got what it takes, to take what you've got.
>
>
>
>
>
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