In all societies men . . . have lived in the interstices of their institutions. They have counted on the mercy of error, ignorance and forgetfulness in their dealings with their fellows and the state. They have often been wrong in so doing-morally and/or factually. But in a world of computers this mercy may not long exist. All our failings and achievements, our credit-worth and our petty delinquencies, our obedience and our defiance, can live in the constant present of the machine.
Donald G. MacRae, "Introduction" to Spencer's The Man Versus the State.  (Baltimore: Penguin Books), 1969.

IX Action Agenda for the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare

The charter directs us to specify the steps that must be taken to put our recommendations into effect. We have done so in this chapter. For each action outlined below, the chapter and pages of the report where the corresponding recommendation is discussed are indicated.

Legislation

We have made a number of recommendations that require the submission of legislative proposals to the Congress as follows.

• To establish a code of fair information practice for all automated personal data systems maintained by agencies of the Federal government or by organizations within reach of the authority of the Federal government. The code should embody safeguard requirements for both administrative systems and systems used exclusively for statistical reporting and research, and should provide injunctive relief as well as civil and penal sanctions for violation of the code [Ch. IV, pp. 50, 53-64; Ch. V, pp. 86-87; Ch. VI, pp. 97-102] .
• To establish protection against compulsory disclosure through legal process for identifiable personal data used exclusively for statistical reporting and research [Ch. VI, pp. 102-106]:
• To amend the Freedom of Information Act to require that an agency obtain the consent of an individual before disclosing data about him in identifiable form [Ch. IV, pp. 64-66] .
• To protect individuals against unauthorized use of the Social Security number by providing that:

  (i) an individual shall have the right not to disclose his Social Security number unless specifically required to do so by Federal statute [Ch. VIII, pp. 125-126] ;

  (ii) any oral or written request made to an individual for his Social Security number shall be accompanied by a clear statement of the legal basis for the request [Ch. VIII, pp. 125-126 ] ;.

  (iii) an individual shall have a right to redress if his lawful refusal to disclose his Social Security number results in the denial of a benefit, or the threat of such denial [Ch. VIII, pp. 125-126] ;

  (iv) any organization or person required by Federal law to obtain and record the Social Security number of an individual shall be prohibited from using or disclosing it without the individual's informed consent, except as may be necessary to the Federal purposes for which the number was obtained and recorded [Ch. VIII, pp. 130-132] .

• To prohibit any person or organization from using any Social Security number, or any number represented as a Social Security number, for promotional or commercial purposes [Ch. VIII, pp. 134-135].
• To amend Section 609 (a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act

  (i) to give an individual the right to inspect personally the records that any consumer-reporting agency maintains about him, and to copy their contents or have copies made [Ch. IV, pp. 66-70];

  (ii) to delete the exceptions from disclosure to an individual now permitted for medical information and sources of information used in investigative consumer reports [Ch. IV, pp. 70-71 ] .

Action by the Secretary to initiate these legislative proposals should be taken in concert with the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, as appropriate.

Administrative Action

Many of our recommendations can be implemented by the issuance of regulations or administrative guidelines.

Regulations should be issued:

• To make applicable all the safeguard requirements for automated personal data systems to all systems within the Department [Ch. IV, pp. 50-64; Ch.V, pp.85-87; Ch. VI, pp. 95-102] .
• To make applicable all the safeguard requirements for automated personal data systems to all systems that can be reached through grant, contract, or other relations with the Department [Ch. IV, p. 50; Ch. V, p. 86; Ch. VI, p. 96] .
• To amend the Department's regulation under the Freedom of Information Act to provide that the consent of an individual shall be obtained before disclosing any data about him in identifiable form [Ch. IV, pp. 65-66].

Administrative guidelines should be issued:

• Establishing procedures for rigorous and thorough evaluation of

(i) any proposal to create or expand any automated personal data system within the Department (Ch. IV, pp. 5152 ] ;

(ii) any proposal to use administrative personal data for statistical reporting or research [Ch. V, pp. 82-86] ; and

(iii) any proposal that would tend to require the creation or expansion of an automated personal data system outside the Department in response to requirements or needs of programs and activities of the Department [Ch. IV, p. 521.

• Requiring that a regulation, with notice of proposed rule making, be issued by the Department before taking any action that would tend to require a State, locality, or other grantee to create or expand an automated personal data system [Ch. IV, p. 52].
• Providing for the publication annually of a compilation of the public notices of all automated personal data systems maintained within the Department [Ch. IV, pp. 57-58; Ch. VI, pp. 99-101 ] .
• Directing the Social Security Administration:

(i) to undertake a positive program to issue Social Security numbers to ninth-grade students in schools, provided (a) that no school system be induced to cooperate in such a program contrary to its preference; and (b) that any person shall have the right to refuse to be issued a Social Security number in connection with such a program [Ch. VIII, 127-1281;

(ii) to undertake no positive program of issuing Social Security numbers to children below the ninth-grade level [Ch. VIII, p. 1281;

(iii) to limit affirmative measures taken to issue Social Security numbers pursuant to subparagraph (B) (i) (II) of Section 205 (c) (2) of the Social Security Act, as amended by Section 137 of Public Law 92-603, to applicants for or recipients of public assistance benefits supported from Federal funds under the Social Security Act [Ch. VIII, pp. 128-130] ;

(iv) to provide SSN services only to organizations or persons required by Federal law to obtain or record the Social Security number, and then only as necessary to fulfill the

(v) to monitor all future legislative proposals dealing with the Social Security number and to recommend actions to be taken by the Secretary to assure that such proposals will be enacted only after full and careful consideration in well advertised hearings that elicit substantial public participation [Ch. VIII, pp. 129-130].

Additional Action

In addition to the steps necessary to put our recommendations into effect, there are some further steps the Department can take to assure that the goals of the recommendations are fully achieved. These include:

• Communicating opposition to any proposal for the adoption of any nationwide, standard, personal identification format, with or without the SSN, that would enhance the likelihood of arbitrary or uncontrolled linkage of records about people, particularly between government or government-supported automated personal data systems;
• Making comments on proposed Federal legislation having implications for personal privacy in record keeping which will seek to assure incorporation in such legislation of safeguard requirements of the kind recommended in this report for all automated personal data systems;
• Encouraging attention in all forms of educational activity to the individual citizen's stake in his personal privacy, to the practical exercise of his rights with respect to the records maintained about him, and to the social impact of computerbased record-keeping systems;
• Supporting research on the use and impact of computerbased record-keeping systems in such areas as education, health services delivery, public assistance, juvenile delinquency prevention, and community mental health;
• .Encouraging the development of standards of ethical behavior and professional competence for data-processing personnel;
• Enhancing the capacity of the Federal government to design and develop computer-based record-keeping systems without reliance on outside specialists;
• Monitoring the application of the safeguard requirements to determine whether they are having their intended effect and, most important, whether they are themselves a source of any adverse social consequences;
• Cooperating with the States in developing uniform State legislation to establish the recommended code of fair information practice for all automated personal data systems that would not be reached by Federal legislation. Among the organizations through which such cooperation might be undertaken are the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the Council of State Governments, the National Governors Conference, the National Legislative Conference, and the National Conference of State Legislative Leaders.
• Urging the Office of Management and Budget to direct all Federal agencies to require their grantees and contractors to operate automated personal data systems with all the safeguards we recommend for systems supported by the Department. In the interest of convenience and simplicity for grantees and contractors, the Office of Management and Budget might prescribe government-wide grant and contract conditions incorporating the safeguard requirements we recommend, just as it now prescribes conditions in such areas as intergovernmental planning and financial management. While such action may not be feasible until there has been some experience in applying the safeguard requirements, we would expect to see the Department take a lead role in promoting uniform, government-wide safeguard requirements for automated personal data systems of Federal grantees and contractors.

Organizational Responsibility

Responsibility for taking the actions necessary to implement our recommendations will have to be assigned to many officials of the Department who are already burdened with other duties. They will need guidance and assistance. The Secretary will need to designate someone who can devote substantial time and effort to assuring that these actions are taken in a timely and effective fashion. Therefore, an official in the Office of the Secretary should be given responsibility to serve as a combination advisor, monitor, and catalyst to assure that the concerns addressed in this report receive continuing attention, and specifically, to assure that automated personal data systems within the Department, and within grantee and contractor agencies, are operated in accordance with the safeguards we recommend. This official should have adequate authority, staff, and support to conduct these activities effectively.

This official should be directed to embark on a positive program of heightening concern within the Department for the issues raised in this report. This program should reach to all who now do, or are apt in the future, to use, direct, or contribute to the use or development of automated personal data systems, at all Civil Service grade levels and in all operating agencies.

Immediate Action

We expect that the Secretary may wish to have the report reviewed by many key officials of the Department, including the heads of each of the Department's operating agencies. Following such a review, a detailed plan to carry out the foregoing action agenda will have to be formulated.

Once such a plan has been adopted, responsibility will have to be assigned to someone to oversee its execution. To start this process we recommend that the Secretary:

• Assign responsibility for distributing the report for review to the Executive Secretary of the Department; and
• Assign responsibility for preparing a detailed plan to carry out the action agenda to an official in the Office of the Secretary.

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