DATE: Tuesday, April 15, 1997               TAG: 9704150274

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

                                            LENGTH:   38 lines

SOCIAL SECURITY SITE RAISES PRIVACY DOUBTS

The financial status of millions of Americans is now available on the Internet by looking up Social Security records.

The development worries critics who say privacy rights are being sacrificed.

The Social Security Administration went on-line a month ago (http://www.ssa.gov), making it easier for taxpayers to look up their records. But USA Today said the system also allows easy snooping.

``As soon as crooks start exploiting this service to get other people's information, Social Security is going to have a real problem on its hands,'' said Evan Hendricks, chairman of the U.S. Privacy Council in Washington.

Social Security officials said the dangers are minimal. ``We have confidence that in the huge majority of cases, the people requesting these things are the right people,'' said John Sabo, head of electronic services in the Social Security Administration.

The agency said the new system can save millions of dollars that it costs to mail financial reports to taxpayers who request the information about themselves.

Beth Givens, manager of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego, said it is easy to abuse the system by obtaining the Social Security numbers of others and using them to gain on-line access to the records.

USA Today said there are various types of possible abuse: potential employers could get the salary history of job applicants; co-workers could determine how much fellow employees make; landlords could use the information to determine whether someone can afford an apartment.

``It would be a tremendous asset to people who know how to obtain this information,'' said Paddy Calabrese, owner of a Seattle detective agency. ``If somebody calls me up and says they want to know somebody's income, I just pop into this thing. I charge them $2,000 and it costs me nothing.''

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