Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has called for the Supreme Court to stop the public court record system from leaking people’s Social Security numbers.
Wyden asked Chief Justice John Roberts in a letter Thursday to stop the courts from sharing people’s personal information, such as Social Security numbers, through court filings.
“Each year, federal courts make available to the public court filings containing tens of thousands of Americans’ personal information, such as their Social Security Numbers (SSNs) and dates of birth,” Wyden wrote. “However, federal court rules — required by Congress — mandate that court filings be scrubbed of personal information before they are publicly available. These rules are not being followed, the courts are not enforcing them, and as a result, each year tens of thousands of Americans are exposed to needless privacy violations.”
HERE’S WHERE ANTI-BIG TECH LEGISLATION STANDS AS TIME RUNS OUT FOR CONGRESS TO ACT
Wyden’s letter arrived after a June 7 report from the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure regarding the inconsistent enforcement of current privacy rules. Wyden noted that Congress required the court system to establish privacy standards while releasing court records online. However, the court system has struggled to do so, according to Wyden. He pointed to a 2015 study from the Federal Judicial Center, which found that 5,437 documents out of 3.9 million court records posted in a one-month period had Social Security numbers listed.
“If these statistics are representative of the problem, it would mean that the courts have made available to the public roughly half a million documents containing personal data since 2015,” states Wyden. He also notes that these documents, which are available to the public, could easily be used to pull off identity theft scams or to stalk individuals.
“If federal courts cannot address this issue, quickly, Congress will be forced to act,” Wyden concluded.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Senator Wyden is urging the courts to enforce their existing rules, which require the protection of sensitive personal information,” Wyden spokesman Keith Chu told CyberScoop. “The courts should also update those rules, as required by the Open Courts Act, and add additional protections so that people don’t risk their privacy when they access the legal system.”
The Supreme Court did not respond to a request for comment.
