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Government IDs and
Identity Theft
by Rep. Ron Paul, MD
Before the
US House of
Representatives International Relations Committee
Mr. Speaker, today I introduce the Identity Theft Prevention Act. This act
protects the American people from government-mandated uniform identifiers that
facilitate private crime as well as the abuse of liberty. The major provision of
the Identity Theft Prevention Act halts the practice of using the Social
Security number as an identifier by requiring the Social Security Administration
to issue all Americans new Social Security numbers within five years after the
enactment of the bill. These new numbers will be the sole legal property of the
recipient, and the Social Security administration shall be forbidden to divulge
the numbers for any purposes not related to Social Security administration.
Social Security numbers issued before implementation of this bill shall no
longer be considered valid federal identifiers. Of course, the Social Security
Administration shall be able to use an individual's original Social Security
number to ensure efficient administration of the Social Security system.
Mr. Speaker, Congress has a moral responsibility to address this problem because
it was Congress that transformed the Social Security number into a national
identifier. Thanks to Congress, today no American can get a job, open a bank
account, get a professional license, or even get a driver's license without
presenting his Social Security number. So widespread has the use of the Social
Security number become that a member of my staff had to produce a Social
Security number in order to get a fishing license!
One of the most disturbing abuses of the Social Security number is the
congressionally-authorized rule forcing parents to get a Social Security number
for their newborn children in order to claim the children as dependents. Forcing
parents to register their children with the state is more like something out of
the nightmares of George Orwell than the dreams of a free republic that inspired
this nation's founders.
Congressionally-mandated use of the Social Security number as an identifier
facilitates the horrendous crime of identity theft. Thanks to Congress, an
unscrupulous person may simply obtain someone's Social Security number in order
to access that person's bank accounts, credit cards, and other financial assets.
Many Americans have lost their life savings and had their credit destroyed as a
result of identity theft. Yet the federal government continues to encourage such
crimes by mandating use of the Social Security number as a uniform ID!
This act also forbids the federal government from creating national ID cards or
establishing any identifiers for the purpose of investigating, monitoring,
overseeing, or regulating private transactions among American citizens. At the
very end of the 108th Congress, this body established a de facto national ID
card with a provisions buried in the “intelligence” reform bill mandating
federal standards for drivers’ licenses, and mandating that federal agents only
accept a license that conforms to these standards as a valid ID.
Nationalizing standards for driver's licenses and birth certificates creates a
national ID system pure and simple. Proponents of the national ID understand
that the public remains wary of the scheme, so proponents attempt to claim they
are merely creating new standards for existing state IDs. However, the
“intelligence” reform legislation imposed federal standards in a federal bill,
thus creating a federalized ID regardless of whether the ID itself is still
stamped with the name of your state. It is just a matter of time until those who
refuse to carry the new licenses will be denied the ability to drive or board an
airplane. Domestic travel restrictions are the hallmark of authoritarian states,
not free republics.
The national ID will be used to track the movements of American citizens, not
just terrorists. Subjecting every citizen to surveillance diverts resources away
from tracking and apprehending terrorists in favor of needless snooping on
innocent Americans. This is what happened with "suspicious activity reports"
required by the Bank Secrecy Act. Thanks to BSA mandates, federal officials are
forced to waste countless hours snooping through the private financial
transactions of innocent Americans merely because those transactions exceeded
$10,000.
The Identity Theft Prevention Act repeals those sections of federal law creating
the national ID, as well as those sections of the Health Insurance Portability
and Accountability Act of 1996 that require the Department of Health and Human
Services to establish a uniform standard health identifier – an identifier which
could be used to create a national database containing the medical history of
all Americans. As an OB/GYN with more than 30 years in private practice, I know
the importance of preserving the sanctity of the physician-patient relationship.
Oftentimes, effective treatment depends on a patient's ability to place absolute
trust in his or her doctor. What will happen to that trust when patients know
that any and all information given to their doctors will be placed in a
government-accessible database?
By putting an end to government-mandated uniform IDs, the Identity Theft
Prevention Act will prevent millions of Americans from having their liberty,
property, and privacy violated by private and public sector criminals.
In addition to forbidding the federal government from creating national
identifiers, this legislation forbids the federal government from blackmailing
states into adopting uniform standard identifiers by withholding federal funds.
One of the most onerous practices of Congress is the use of federal funds
illegitimately taken from the American people to bribe states into obeying
federal dictates.
Some members of Congress will claim that the federal government needs the power
to monitor Americans in order to allow the government to operate more
efficiently. I would remind my colleagues that, in a constitutional republic,
the people are never asked to sacrifice their liberties to make the jobs of
government officials easier. We are here to protect the freedom of the American
people, not to make privacy invasion more efficient.
Mr. Speaker, while I do not question the sincerity of those members who suggest
that Congress can ensure that citizens' rights are protected through legislation
restricting access to personal information, the only effective privacy
protection is to forbid the federal government from mandating national
identifiers. Legislative "privacy protections'' are inadequate to protect the
liberty of Americans for a couple of reasons.
First, it is simply common sense that repealing those federal laws that promote
identity theft is more effective in protecting the public than expanding the
power of the federal police force. Federal punishment of identity thieves
provides cold comfort to those who have suffered financial losses and the
destruction of their good reputations as a result of identity theft.
Federal laws are not only ineffective in stopping private criminals, but these
laws have not even stopped unscrupulous government officials from accessing
personal information. After all, laws purporting to restrict the use of personal
information did not stop the well-publicized violations of privacy by
IRS officials or
the FBI abuses of the Clinton and Nixon administrations.
In one of the most infamous cases of identity theft, thousands of active-duty
soldiers and veterans had their personal information stolen, putting them at
risk of identity theft. Imagine the dangers if thieves are able to obtain the
universal identifier, and other personal information, of millions of Americans
simply by breaking, or hacking, into one government facility or one government
database?
Second, the federal government has been creating proprietary interests in
private information for certain state-favored special interests. Perhaps the
most outrageous example of phony privacy protection is the “medical privacy'”
regulation, that allows medical researchers, certain business interests, and law
enforcement officials access to health care information, in complete disregard
of the Fifth Amendment and the wishes of individual patients! Obviously,
"privacy protection'' laws have proven greatly inadequate to protect personal
information when the government is the one seeking the information.
Any action short of repealing laws authorizing privacy violations is
insufficient primarily because the federal government lacks constitutional
authority to force citizens to adopt a universal identifier for health care,
employment, or any other reason. Any federal action that oversteps
constitutional limitations violates liberty because it ratifies the principle
that the federal government, not the Constitution, is the ultimate judge of its
own jurisdiction over the people. The only effective protection of the rights of
citizens is for Congress to follow Thomas Jefferson's advice and "bind (the
federal government) down with the chains of the Constitution.”
Mr. Speaker, those members who are not persuaded by the moral and constitutional
reasons for embracing the Identity Theft Prevention Act should consider the
American people’s opposition to national identifiers. The numerous complaints
over the ever-growing uses of the Social Security number show that Americans
want Congress to stop invading their privacy. Furthermore, according to a survey
by the
Gallup company, 91
percent of the American people oppose forcing Americans to obtain a universal
health ID.
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I once again call on my colleagues to join me in
putting an end to the federal government's unconstitutional use of national
identifiers to monitor the actions of private citizens. National identifiers
threaten all Americans by exposing them to the threat of identity theft by
private criminals and abuse of their liberties by public criminals, while
diverting valuable law enforcement resources away from addressing real threats
to public safety. In addition, national identifiers are incompatible with a
limited, constitutional government. I, therefore, hope my colleagues will join
my efforts to protect the freedom of their constituents by supporting the
Identity Theft Prevention Act.
January 12, 2005
Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from
Texas.
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