Five months after the Social Security Administration shut down a key portion of its Web site amid a firestorm over its lack of safeguards for account holder data, the agency today unveiled a new - though much less ambitious - plan to allow citizens to access their personal information online.
"The new version, we maintain, will have security, disclosure, and better access," acting Social Security Commissioner John J. Callahan said at a new conference.
Consumers will be able to obtain online estimates of the benefits they have coming by the end of this year, Callahan said. But unlike the previous system, which was suspended in early April after only four weeks of operation, more sensitive information such as tax records will not be available online. And those wishing to get benefits estimates will have to provide more information to get at their data.
To access benefits estimates, the requester must fill out an electronic form on the agency's Web site, giving name, address, Social Security number, mother's maiden name, and state and date of birth. The agency will then email a personal code that the user can use at the Web site to retrieve the estimates.
Personal earnings and benefits figures - the store of information in the Social Security Administration's database - provides a projection of how much money account holders will receive at retirement or for disability and survivors' payments. And, with the agency receipt of 38 million pieces of correspondence a year, it's not surprising that Callahan wants to make the Internet "part of that arsenal" of ways to communicate with present and future retirees.
Under its new plan, the agency will not revive online access to earnings histories or tax records because there is no way of ensuring that they stay private. Consumers can still use the Web site to request these documents, but the data will be sent via snailmail.
Callahan said the agency is looking into strong encryption technologies to make this more sensitive data available online.
Critics of government encryption policy point out, however, that the practice of trying to keep strong cryptographic programs under wraps is actually making it harder for agencies like Social Security to implement such a strategy.
"In this example, the [White House's] policy on encryption has been more of a hindrance than a help," said Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and a participant in one of six nationwide meetings held this summer to salvage the Social Security Administration's Web site. "If the Clinton administration had a more liberal policy on encryption, then the Social Security Administration would have more options."
Now, however, the agency has more pressing problems - like the issue of making sure those under age 50 have personal benefits estimates to look up at all, either online or off.
"The next big issue we're working on is Social Security solvency," Callahan said with a laugh.
