2005 Hunting License
Did you buy your 2005 Hunting License yet?
The PGC warns about social security numbers:
In response to concerns received from hunting and furtaker license buyers, Pennsylvania Game Commission officials took action to remind all license issuing agents of their obligation to protect the confidentiality and security of license buyers’ information, especially social security numbers.
“It was brought to our attention that a few vendors were not following the proper procedures to safeguard license sales book information, particularly social security numbers,” said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission Bureau of Administrative Services director. “We received reports of vendors allowing applicants to fill out the license book, which allows them to see confidential information of other licensees, or that license books were left on counters making the same information easily accessible to other customers.
There needs to be a regulatory change in Federal law to eliminate the use of SS numbers in the purchase of hunting and fishing licenses. This is a privacy matter. The stated purpose is to track down “dead beat dads” who are behind in child support payments. This simply is not a proper approach to solve a law enforcement problem. Millions of sportsmen are required to reveal their names, addresses, driver license numbers, DOB and SS numbers. Do you know what a dishonest clerk could do with that information?? Shame on ya Congress!
I wonder if PA hunters will become the target of the fastest increasing crime of our times: identity theft.
The following is copied and pasted from the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Website. A court order is required to prohibit the issuance of a fishing license or to suspend an existing license. ou should receive notice before your fishing privileges are affected. No such court orders have been issued in Pennsylvania, and, even when the law has been in effect for a while, it is expected that there will be relatively few such orders issued every year. Actions with regard to the drivers’ license of persons who fail to pay child support are expected to be much more common than actions suspending or denying fishing licenses. The best way to avoid problems with your fishing license and other licenses (including your driver’s license) is to get yourself up-to-date on your child support.
Thsi statement alone shows there is no need to have a license purchaser give his/her SS Number as at no time has this information been used to help in any way to retrieve back child support. Add to this that the way it is set up, even if a person is in arrears on their child support the license will still be issued unless there is a notice sent to every license issuing agent to the effect this person is not allowed to receive a license. So a person is not actually being stopped from receiving their license even if they owe money. Children legally allowed to be licensed at 12 years of age in no way, shape or form can owe back child support, yet they are required to give their SS Number to receive their license. Regardless of what the Federal Law states, when I was issued my SS Card there was a statement on the top that said, “Not to be used for identification purposes” that card was issued by the same Federal Government, so which rule should we follow? I for one do not like the idea that everyone seems to be requiring my SS Number to acquire services that I pay for. Some of these being Auto, Life and Homeowners Insurance, buying a vehicle, even subscribing to cable television. This just makes it inevitable that we will have a National ID card in a short period of time and the government will use the excuse that the SS Number system has been compromised and the large amount of identity theft requires this move.
Using back child support as an excuse is nothing more than a lie, licenses are still being issued to people that owe support because there is no way to stop the issuing of the license without a court order and no court orders are being issued. That in itself is enough of a reason to stop this from happening.