| Comment Number: | 531096-00162 |
| Received: | 8/28/2007 7:38:49 AM |
| Organization: | Chesapeake Services |
| Commenter: | Anthony Hatcher |
| State: | MD |
| Agency: | Federal Trade Commission |
| Rule: | Private Sector Use of SSNs |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
I have been a private investigator for over 15 years and specialize in locating witnesses, defendants, relatives and beneficiaries to estates. Without the availability of access to social security numbers it becomes exceptionaly difficult to locate these individuals. The restrictions that have already been placed on access to full social security numbers has had a dramatic affect on my business. While understanding the need to protect individuals from identity theft there is also a need to protect others from individuals, such as those that skip out on large debts, or those that are due an inheritance. I believe tight control is in order, and only licensed private investigators should be allowed access to full social security numbers. Maybe there should be some kind of tight tracking of who accesses the records as is done with the police when inquiring on criminal history records through NCIC. Setup a validation process with the companies that furnish the information so that they would be required to randomly check PI's who access the records, to have them certify the reason the record was accessed.