Resolution 03-09: SOCIAL INSECURITY

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Number	03-09
Description	secure student SSN information
Authored by	Josh Warren
Sponsored by	Brandon Krausse
Date Submitted	Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Date Considered	Thursday, January 1, 1970
General Body Vote	Tuesday, September 9, 2003
Committee	Student Affairs
Result	Passed By Legislative Branch
Remarks	PENDING
Whereas	Under Federal Law, Social Security Numbers (SSNs) can only be demanded, collected or stored in very specific situations; and
Whereas	Many students, faculty and staff are not aware of these rules, the risks to the individual who provides their SSN and the risks to the University by misuse of SSNs; and
Whereas	The majority of students have not requested their student ID number to be changed and still use their SSN as their student ID number; and
Whereas	While the new Student Information System, scheduled to be completed around the summer of 2005, will fix many of these problems, recent events such as the disclosure of the full name and SSN of over 1,200 current and former students on the UC Management & Housing website shows that more care is needed immediately in the handling of SSNs and ID numbers; and
Whereas	For the majority of uses, at most, the last four digits of the ID number is needed, however, the complete SSN is still collected; and
Whereas	The Association for Computing Machinery's code of ethics states, 'Only the necessary amount of personal information be collected in a system, that retention and disposal periods for that information be clearly defined and enforced, and that personal information gathered for a specific purpose not be used for other purposes without consent of the individual(s)".
Be It Further Resolved That	A committee of faculty, staff, students and administrators be formed; and
Be It Further Resolved That	Any department, unit or other component of the University of Texas at Arlington who currently requests, stores or uses SSNs or ID numbers or wishes to request, store or use SSNs or ID numbers must document each use of these numbers showing the use, the justification for the use and the procedures in place to ensure the complete security of the identification numbers; and
Be It Further Resolved That	This committee reviews this documentation and decides if the use should be permitted; and
Be It Further Resolved That	Consequences appropriate to the individual's relationship to the University (ie, department, professor, student employee, etc) be enacted for persons or departments collecting SSNs or student ID numbers without the approval of this committee as well as for persons or departments failing to enforce the documented security procedures and standards.