S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
7594
I N S E N A T E
June 6, 2012
___________
Introduced by Sens. FUSCHILLO, NOZZOLIO -- read twice and ordered print-
ed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer
Protection
AN ACT to amend the general business law and the correction law, in
relation to the processing of personal identifying information
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Section 399-dd of the general business law, as added by
chapter 676 of the laws of 2006, paragraph (f) of subdivision 2 and
subdivision 6 as added and subdivision 7 as renumbered by chapter 279 of
the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
S [399-dd] 399-DDD. Confidentiality of social security account number.
Beginning on and after January first, two thousand eight:
1. (A) As used in this section "social security account number" shall
include the number issued by the federal social security administration
and any number derived from such number. Such term shall not include any
number that has been encrypted.
(B) FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, THE TERM "INMATE" MEANS A PERSON
CONFINED IN ANY LOCAL CORRECTIONAL FACILITY AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION
SIXTEEN OF SECTION TWO OF THE CORRECTION LAW OR IN ANY CORRECTIONAL
FACILITY AS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH (A) OF SUBDIVISION FOUR OF SECTION TWO
OF THE CORRECTION LAW PURSUANT TO SUCH PERSON'S CONVICTION OF A CRIMINAL
OFFENSE.
2. No person, firm, partnership, association or corporation, not
including the state or its political subdivisions, shall do any of the
following:
(a) Intentionally communicate to the general public or otherwise make
available to the general public in any manner an individual's social
security account number. This paragraph shall not apply to any individ-
ual intentionally communicating to the general public or otherwise
making available to the general public his or her social security
account number.
(b) Print an individual's social security account number on any card
or tag required for the individual to access products, services or bene-
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13110-04-2
S. 7594 2
fits provided by the person, firm, partnership, association or corpo-
ration.
(c) Require an individual to transmit his or her social security
account number over the internet, unless the connection is secure or the
social security account number is encrypted.
(d) Require an individual to use his or her social security account
number to access an internet web site, unless a password or unique
personal identification number or other authentication device is also
required to access the internet website.
(e) Print an individual's social security account number on any mate-
rials that are mailed to the individual, unless state or federal law
requires the social security account number to be on the document to be
mailed. Notwithstanding this paragraph, social security account numbers
may be included in applications and forms sent by mail, including docu-
ments sent as part of an application or enrollment process, or to estab-
lish, amend or terminate an account, contract or policy, or to confirm
the accuracy of the social security account number. A social security
account number that is permitted to be mailed under this section may not
be printed, in whole or part, on a postcard or other mailer not requir-
ing an envelope, or visible on the envelope or without the envelope
having been opened.
(f) Encode or embed a social security number in or on a card or docu-
ment, including, but not limited to, using a bar code, chip, magnetic
strip, or other technology, in place of removing the social security
number as required by this section.
(G) KNOWINGLY USE THE LABOR OR TIME OF OR EMPLOY ANY INMATE IN THIS
STATE, OR IN ANY OTHER JURISDICTION, IN ANY CAPACITY THAT INVOLVES
OBTAINING ACCESS TO, COLLECTING OR PROCESSING SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT
NUMBERS OF OTHER INDIVIDUALS.
3. This section does not prevent the collection, use, or release of a
social security account number as required by state or federal law, the
use of a social security account number for internal verification, fraud
investigation or administrative purposes or for any business function
specifically authorized by 15 U.S.C. 6802.
4. Any person, firm, partnership, association or corporation having
possession of the social security account number of any individual
shall, to the extent that such number is maintained for the conduct of
business or trade, take reasonable measures to ensure that no officer or
employee has access to such number for any purpose other than for a
legitimate or necessary purpose related to the conduct of such business
or trade and provide safeguards necessary or appropriate to preclude
unauthorized access to the social security account number and to protect
the confidentiality of such number.
5. Any waiver of the provisions of this section is contrary to public
policy, and is void and unenforceable.
6. No person may file any document available for public inspection
with any state agency, political subdivision, or in any court of this
state that contains a social security account number of any other
person, unless such other person is a dependent child, or has consented
to such filing, except as required by federal or state law or regu-
lation, or by court rule.
7. Whenever there shall be a violation of this section, application
may be made by the attorney general in the name of the people of the
state of New York to a court or justice having jurisdiction by a special
proceeding to issue an injunction, and upon notice to the defendant of
not less than five days, to enjoin and restrain the continuance of such
S. 7594 3
violations; and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court or
justice that the defendant has, in fact, violated this section, an
injunction may be issued by such court or justice, enjoining and
restraining any further violation, without requiring proof that any
person has, in fact, been injured or damaged thereby. In any such
proceeding, the court may make allowances to the attorney general as
provided in paragraph six of subdivision (a) of section eighty-three
hundred three of the civil practice law and rules, and direct restitu-
tion. In connection with any such proposed application, the attorney
general is authorized to take proof and make a determination of the
relevant facts and to issue subpoenas in accordance with the civil prac-
tice law and rules. Whenever the court shall determine that a violation
of subdivision two of this section has occurred, the court may impose a
civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars for a single
violation and not more than one hundred thousand dollars for multiple
violations resulting from a single act or incident. The second violation
and any violation committed thereafter shall be punishable by a civil
penalty of not more than five thousand dollars for a single violation
and not more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars for multiple
violations resulting from a single act or incident. No person, firm,
partnership, association or corporation shall be deemed to have violated
the provisions of this section if such person, firm, partnership, asso-
ciation or corporation shows, by a preponderance of the evidence, that
the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error
made notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adopted to
avoid such error.
S 2. Subdivision 1 of section 170 of the correction law, as amended by
section 23 of subpart A of part C of chapter 62 of the laws of 2011, is
amended to read as follows:
1. The commissioner shall not, nor shall any other authority whatsoev-
er, make any contract by which the labor or time of any inmate in any
state or local correctional facility in this state, or the product or
profit of his work, shall be contracted, let, farmed out, given or sold
to any person, firm, association or corporation; except that the inmates
in said correctional institutions may work for, and the products of
their labor may be disposed of to, the state or any political subdivi-
sion thereof, any public institution owned or managed and controlled by
the state, or any political subdivision thereof, PROVIDED THAT NO INMATE
SHALL BE EMPLOYED OR ASSIGNED TO ENGAGE IN ANY ACTIVITY THAT INVOLVES
OBTAINING ACCESS TO, COLLECTING OR PROCESSING SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT
NUMBERS OF OTHER INDIVIDUALS.
S 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
have become a law.