The Kennebec Journal reported today that the Maine Department of Education's plan to request social security numbers from all students has been put on hold for a year (the article includes a quote from me suggesting the plan should be put on hold permanently). The ACLU of MAINE lobbied against this proposal in the statehouse last year, and we suceeded in making sure that the Department will warn parents about the personal privacy risks associated with misuse and overuse of social security numbers. And, as school started (when we thought this program was about to begin), we issued a privacy alert to parents, reminding them that they were under no obligation to turn over social security numbers for their children. We're going to take advantage of this additional year to continue to educate parents and the public. It is wrong to discriminate against students who don't have social security numbers, and it is dangerous for too many people to have access to private personal data about us.
