Legal Question in Criminal Law in Utah
What personal information am I required to give.
I'm in the state of Utah, and was ticketed by a park ranger. He asked me for my social security number (SSN), which I questioned his right to know and received no valid (unobscene) response. He asked for my ethnicity, then ignored my response and put Hispanic. In CA where I was born the SSN is not put on my drivers license and the DMV is not even allowed to know what it is. My question is this: Who am I _required_ to give my SSN to, and under what circumstances?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Smokey and Social Security
First of all, you sure as hell are not required to give a Park Ranger your SS#. We do not yet have formal identity cards in this country, although it has been suggested by the constitutionally impaired.
All you have to provide a police officer is a reasonable identity answer and means to check it out. You absolutely have to supply your SS# on all tax returns, on withholding certificates and other tax forms at work, and alas, on many group health policies which utilize your SS# as your ID#..
Illegal collection of SS#'s is one of the biggest problems in privacy law issues to date. It is by SS# that all of the computerized on line services learn all about you, your hamster, and your planet of origin.
Don't give it to him/her. California is light years ahead of the rest of those states which utilize SS# for driver identification. It should be made illegal on the Federal level.
Social Security Number
This information is available online from the Social Security Administration. You may want to start at http://www.law.house.gov/
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