FC: "Amy Boyer law" yanked from appropriations bill, by A.Marlin/CQ

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

********

> From: "Adam S. Marlin" <amarlin () cq com>
> To: <declan () 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

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> From: "Adam S. Marlin" <amarlin () cq com>
> To: <declan () well com>, <politech () 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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