********
>From: "Adam S. Marlin" <amarlin_at_cq.com>
>To: <declan_at_well.com>
>Subject: RE: Amy Boyer "privacy" bill restricts amyboyer.org website
>Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 13:57:35 -0500
>
>you might be interested in a story i wrote for today on this issue:
>
>CQ MONITOR NEWS
>
>
>PUSH TO STRIKE LANGUAGE TO BAN INTERNET SALE OF SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS:
>
>By Adam S. <Marlin>, CQ Staff Writer
>
>Dec. 13, 2000 - Administration officials and privacy groups are pushing to
>remove language from a final appropriations package that would protect the
>sale of Social Security numbers over the Internet.
>
> "It's been an item of disagreement between the White House and
>Congress," said Edmund Amorosi, press secretary for Sen Judd Gregg, R-N.H.
>"How it's going to be handled hasn't been made clear."
>
> Gregg incorporated his proposal (HR 2554) to ban the Internet sale of
>Social Security numbers into the Commerce-Justice-State appropriations bill
>(HR 4690).
>
> Privacy advocates are lobbying hard with calls to leadership and
>appropriators' staff to have the provisions removed. The groups claim that
>the language, known as the "Amy Boyer Law," is riddled with loopholes and
>could decrease protections consumers already have.
>
> The groups are lobbying "to strike the provisions with the Amy Boyer
>language so that we can come back next year and have stronger Social
>Security legislation that is not plagued with loopholes," said Lori Cole,
>deputy director of the Eagle Forum.
>
> Cole's organization is working with conservative, liberal and civil
>libertarian groups to have the language removed. The Consumers Union, U.S.
>Public Interest Group, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Consumer
>Federation of America are among the other organizations trying to remove the
>language.
>
> In an Oct. 6 "Statement of Administration Position," the White House
>mentioned the proposal as one of the reasons President Clinton would veto
>the C-J-S bill. The bill, "could actually result in the American people
>losing significant privacy protections," according to the statement.
>
> The measure is named after a New Hampshire woman who was killed by a
>stalker who tracked her down after buy her Social Security number on the
>Internet.
>
>
>Source: CQ Monitor News
>Round-the-clock coverage of news from Capitol Hill.
>©2000 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.
>
>------------------------
>Adam S. Marlin
>Congressional Quarterly
>(202)887-8671
********
>From: "Adam S. Marlin" <amarlin_at_cq.com>
>To: <declan_at_well.com>, <politech_at_politechbot.com>
>Subject: Boyer
>Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 10:51:32 -0500
>
>This might interest you regarding Amy Boyer:
>
>
>
>SOCIAL SECURITY INTERNET PRIVACY STANDARD REJECTED
>
>By Adam S. Marlin, CQ Staff Writer
>
>Dec. 14, 2000 - With Amy Boyer's family, the Clinton administration and
>privacy groups opposed to it, an Internet privacy measure named for her was
>removed from the Commerce-Justice-State appropriations bill Thursday night.
>
> The measure (HR 2554) was intended to protect Social Security numbers
>from being sold over the Internet, but critics said that changes made during
>negotiations with the financial services industry had left it riddled with
>loopholes.
>
> Tim Remsburg, Boyer's stepfather, said in a telephone interview from his
>home in Nashua, N.H., that he opposed it because the provisions did not have
>the intended effect he wanted. In last-minute negotiations, the
>administration and privacy groups pushed hard for its removal.
>
> On Oct. 15, 1999, Boyer was fatally shot by a 21-year-old former high
>school classmate, Liam Youens, who had used the Internet to purchase Boyer's
>Social Security number and other information, including her work address.
>
> "I don't want Amy's name on something that means nothing," said
>Remsburg, who also testified on March 28 before the Senate Health Education
>Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and Families. "I'm looking for
>something that has some meat on it."
>
> Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., chairman of the Congress-Justice-State
>Appropriations Subcommittee, sponsored the proposal, but his office
>acknowledged its difficult road. Gregg incorporated the provisions into this
>year's C-J-S appropriations bill (HR 4690).
>
> "This is a well-intentioned proposal that has gotten caught up in the
>larger debate over Internet privacy and has made progress hard to achieve as
>a result," said Edmund Amorosi, Gregg's press secretary.
>
> As introduced, the legislation would have forbidden the sale of Social
>Security numbers over the Internet or their display in public.
>
> After the credit industry raised objections to the bill, Gregg changed
>the proposal. In its current form, the bill would pre-empt states' online
>privacy laws, allowing Social Security numbers found on public documents to
>be sold over the Internet.
>
> "As much as I supported their [Sen. Gregg's office] actions, I would
>like something stronger," Remsburg said.
>
> Amorosi was not sure whether Gregg will take it up next year.
>
> "He is interested in the issue and thinks something should be done, but
>given what's happened this year, there is going to have to be a
>reevaluation," Amorosi said. "There are a lot of land mines in this area and
>I think it may be a preview of things to come in the overall privacy debate.
>It's very hard to resolve these problems."
>
>
>Source: CQ Monitor News
>Round-the-clock coverage of news from Capitol Hill.
>©2000 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.
>
>------------------------
>Adam S. Marlin
>Congressional Quarterly
>(202)887-8671
*********
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