Posted on: Sunday, April 7, 2002

EDITORIAL
State has no business giving security numbers

If it isn't one thing, it's another with the state's benighted traffic camera system.

The latest blow, at least potentially, comes courtesy of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed a lawsuit against the system's use of Social Security numbers to help identify drivers of tagged cars.

The ACLU's contention, and it seems reasonable, is that the state has no business passing off Social Security numbers to a private company. The argument: The state has possession of those numbers for purposes of issuing a drivers license and for no other reason.

But once the numbers are in someone's hands, they are virtual "information flypaper."

In a sense, the ACLU lawsuit is theoretical, since there is no evidence that the private operator of the camera system is using the numbers for any reason other than to find the identity of the driver of a speeding car. And as a practical matter, one's Social Security number is already in wide circulation.

But theory matters. And if the use of Social Security numbers for this commercial purpose violates both state and federal constitutions as well as the Federal Privacy Act (as ACLU contends) then the practice should be stopped.