Sun Zone Blog

Admin November 20th, 2009

ven if social security numbers are not the matter of public records and measures are taken both nationwide and locally to protect the said numbers from exposure to the general public, it appears they occasionally do get exposed along with information that is not sensitive, having been (hopefully unintentionally) imbedded in the documents that are disclosed for public inspection as required by law. The point is the law mandates partial or complete redaction of ssn’s only from certain public records like court, judiciary, credit reports etc. before making them public, but there are also many other documents that are not listed as requiring obligatory screening and editing before their disclosure.

For example, should you send an e-mail to, say, your city mayor’s office, you should be aware that such correspondence automatically falls under the category of public records that are to be disclosed. From the other hands, there’s no uniform federal regulation requiring redacting social security numbers from such correspondence, which means this is the case where you are most likely to have your social security number exposed publicly – hopefully, no to be viewed by an online identity thief.

As you see, there are occasions when you get your personal information exposed in the public records primarily due to your own frivolous and risky behavior. In order to avoid identity theft, including but not limited to theft of ssn’s, everybody is recommended to follow these simple guidelines: Do not include your personal info, like your date and place of birth, residential address, to say nothing of your ssn into your e-mail correspondence and do not upload it on social networking sites; treat all online activities as viewable and trackable, and hence behave adequately; check regularly your credit reports for signs of suspicious activity and react immediately, should you notice something you cant explain; don’t give up your Social Security number while filling out medical forms; destroy all paperwork including your personal information before disposing of it.

Remember, the only situations where you are legally required to provide your SSN are limited, probably, just to the process of employment or background check, while filling out and submitting tax forms, or when required by your bank that would include it in bank records, which don’t fall under the category of public records.

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