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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 24, 2005

SCHUMER: EGREGIOUS LOOPHOLE MAKES MILLIONS OF SOC. SEC. NUMBERS ACCESSIBLE AT TOUCH OF COMPUTER BUTTON; POTENTIAL FOR IDENTITY THEFT ENORMOUS

Anyone Who Pays “Westlaw” Gets Access to Millions of Soc. Sec. Numbers, from Paris Hilton’s to Dick Cheney’s Without Their Knowledge or Permission

With So Much Personal Information Available in Addition to Soc. Sec. Numbers, Making Chances of Identity Theft Much Higher

Schumer Asks Company to Disable SS Number Searches, Implement Stricter Checks on Access by Clients’ Employees, Interns

Identity theft costs consumers and businesses an estimated five billion dollars per year. Many recent news reports have focused on large scale identity theft by individuals stealing personal information from data mining companies like Choice Point in Georgia. U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, a member of the Senate Finance Committee and the Banking Committee, wrote a letter today to the head of Westlaw, a data search company based in Minnesota, asking that an egregious loophole in their Internet-based ‘People-Find’ be disabled for use by its clients. This letter is a follow up to Schumer’s phone conversation with the President of Westlaw, Peter Warwick, earlier this month in which the Senator asked exactly who may have access to their “People-Find” database and strongly recommended Westlaw disable it until better protections were in place to prevent misuse by clients.

Schumer said, “This egregious loophole makes millions of Social Security numbers available at the touch of a computer button. Average Americans are just as vulnerable to identity theft as Vice President Dick Cheney and supermodel Paris Hilton. The employees and interns of corporations, the Federal court system, and the United States Senate do not need unfettered access to millions of Social Security numbers and other private information.”

“Westlaw’s ‘People-Find’ service might as well be the first chapter of ‘Identity Theft for Dummies.’ Criminals no longer need forage through dumpsters for discarded bills - they just need to send Westlaw a check and they're in the identity theft business,” Schumer said in his letter to Warwick. “Any Westlaw user who pays for your ‘People-Find’ database can obtain the social security number of virtually any person in the United States.”

This loophole was brought to the Senator’s attention by a constituent who works for the federal courts who then contacted a Schumer staffer who confirmed that the Senate office also has access to this feature. We have also learned that private companies (and their employees/interns) subscribe to this service and have unfettered access to social security numbers.

“When I called Westlaw, I learned that this service is available to anyone who is willing to pay for it, regardless of their need for it and without cursory background checks. Westlaw relies on an on-your-honor affirmation by users that they will not use the information they find illegally.”

“I plan to introduce legislation in the very near future to plug these egregious loopholes allowing millions of Social Security numbers to be on the Internet.”

Schumer concluded, “Rather than receiving assurances that the problem would be remedied, my office received a letter from Westlaw’s legal representation that failed to address the central issue - that there are no real standards for keeping sensitive personal data out of the wrong hands.”

Attached is the letter to Westlaw President, Peter Warwick.

Attached is the letter to Senator Arlen Specter.

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