Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, PRIVACY NEWS: FTC Staff Supports Proposal to Revise Social Security Number Changes for Children, (Apr 22, 2013)

The staff of the FTC supports a Social Security Administration (SSA) proposal to revise its policy for assigning new Social Security Numbers (SSNs) to children age 13, according to a comment recently submitted to the SSA. The staff explained the agency’s role in fighting identity theft and protecting consumers’ privacy, and said that the proposal will help children recover from the negative consequences of identity theft.

According to the FTC, under the proposal, the SSA would adopt a new policy to allow the SSN of a child under 13 to be changed in the event the child’s Social Security card was stolen in transit, the child’s SSN was incorrectly disclosed through the SSA’s Death Master File, or a third party had misused the child’s number. Current policy allows such a change only with evidence of recent harm to the individual, which can be difficult to show for a child.

The FTC staff recommended two refinements to the SSA proposal to provide further safeguards. It recommended that the SSA raise the cut-off age for this policy change to include children under 18 years old. In addition, the FTC staff recommended that language in the new policy allow reporting by parents, guardians, law enforcement and child welfare agencies as methods by which the SSA can receive notification that a child’s Social Security number has been stolen.

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