The Privacy Act of 1974

Many states require SSN's from applicants for driver's licenses. However, the Privacy Act (below) shows that states may not deny anyone any right, benefit or privilege for failure to supply an SSN, unless the feds require SSN's be disclosed, OR states are grandfathered by virtue of lawfully requiring SSN's for licenses prior to 1975.

This is a portion of the Privacy Act of 1974, concerning the disclosure of SSNs to government agencies:

DISCLOSURE OF SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER

Section 7 of Pub. L. 93-579 provided that:
  '(a)(1) It shall be unlawful for any Federal, State or local
          government agency to deny to any individual any right,
          benefit, or privilege provided by law because of such 
          individual's refusal to disclose his social security 
          account number.
     '(2) the (The) provisions of paragraph (1) of this 
          subsection shall not apply with respect to -
          '(A) any disclosure which is required by Federal 
               statute, or
          '(B) the disclosure of a social security number to 
               any Federal, State, or local agency maintaining 
               a system of records in existence and operating 
               before January 1, 1975, if such disclosure was 
               required under statute or regulation adopted 
               prior to such date to verify the identity of an 
               individual.

  '(b) Any Federal, State, or local government agency which 
       requests an individual to disclose his social security 
       account number shall inform that individual whether that
       disclosure is mandatory or voluntary, by what statutory 
       or other authority such number is solicited, and what 
       uses will be made of it.'

And here's a new find which should interest those people that work in government and collect SSNs...

42 USC § 408. Penalties 

  '(a) In general 

      Whoever - 
      (8) discloses, uses, or compels the disclosure of the social 
          security number of any person in violation of the laws of 
          the United States; shall be guilty of a felony and upon 
          conviction thereof shall be fined under title 18 or 
          imprisoned for not more than five years, or both. 

(To be certain that the latter cite is not out of context, you may review the entire 42 USC § 408 at http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/408.shtml).

SO.....

This says two separate and distinct things:

Any and all government agencies must provide a federal statute requiring the disclosure of the SSN when they solicit a social security number. Failure to do so is a federal crime; and

Most, if not all states cannot deny a license of any kind solely due to the failure of the applicant to supply an SSN unless Federal law requires the person disclose the social security number.

This Web Page: http://www.cjmciver.org/free/privacy74.shtml

All information presented here is done so under the protection of the First, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, and article I section 2 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Furthermore, as established in the famous trial of William Penn in August 1670, and contrary to the unlawful instructions given by most American judges, in addition to judging the facts of a case, juries also have the right and duty to pass judgement on the law (meaning they may acquit a violator of the law if they believe the law in question is unconstitutional, immoral, just plain stupid, or if the penalty is deemed too harsh). Juries are also lawfully free to vote according to their conscience, above all other considerations.

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