Wisconsin official apologizes for Social Security number leak

01/26/2007

Associated Press
Last update: January 25, 2007


MADISON, Wis. — New Department of Revenue Secretary Roger Ervin apologized to lawmakers Thursday for a printing problem in which taxpayers' Social Security numbers were mailed on thousands of tax forms.


Ervin told the Assembly Committee on Consumer Protection and Personal Privacy that he has ordered all department contractors to purge nonessential information from their files. He plans to create a unique identification number for each taxpayer and appoint a privacy specialist within the agency.


"This particular incident is a very unfortunate mistake, and I know that I speak for everyone in the Department when I express my deepest apologies,'' Ervin said in written testimony to committee members. He took over the agency nine days ago.


A contractor mailed about 171,000 tax forms with Social Security numbers printed on them around the last week of December. The forms went to people who filed paper copies last year of their joint state income tax return for the 2005 tax year. News of the mailing raised fears that anyone who handled the forms could use the numbers to commit identity theft.


The revenue department gave Ripon Community Printers a database with taxpayers' Social Security numbers, names and addresses for the mailing. The printer's contract included a confidentiality clause, and a template the agency reviewed before the mailing didn't have a Social Security number printed on it, Ervin said.


Still, the numbers went out on address labels.


The agency is sending letters to everyone affected telling them how to sign up for a free year's worth of credit monitoring, Ervin told the committee. The monitoring could cost from $170,000 to $340,000, depending on how many people take part. Ripon Community Printers has agreed to pay the first $110,000 of that.


Ervin said the printer also agreed to cover the cost of mailing the notification letters and reprinting forms for people who had their originals retrieved as well as indemnify the revenue department against any damage claims.


Ervin also detailed for the committee steps the agency plans to take to increase security, including:


— ordering all contractors to purge nonessential confidential information from communications with taxpayers.


— developing a 15-digit identification number for every taxpayer by 2008.


— appointing a privacy protection officer to review and update agency policies on taxpayers' confidentiality.


— giving vendors only data they need.


Rep. Dave Cullen, D-Milwaukee, asked Ervin whether the state should continue to do business with Ripon Community Printers.


"This is a pretty big mistake,'' he said.


Ervin said the company's contract expires at the end of the year. After that, the contract will be open to the lowest bidder.


Ripon Community Printers President Andy Lyke said he understands if the state wants to drop his company, but it has proven it stands behind its work.


"We just messed up,'' Lyke said in a telephone interview.


Cullen and Rep. Andy Jorgenson, D-Fort Atkinson, both asked what people are supposed to do after the yearlong credit monitoring ends.


"Bad guys are hearing this information, too, and tucking it away,'' Jorgenson said.


Most identity theft takes place within the year after information has been compromised, Ervin said.


People who sign up for the monitoring can get $20,000 in insurance, he added. If they lose more than that, he said, they would have to go to court with the printer.