Note: This article was updated on Oct. 17, 2006.
Student social security numbers are among other unencrypted data on the magnetic strip of student identification cards, which can be read by card readers that are commercially available.
The cards are used at locations across campus, including the dining halls, Ping Recreation Center, Alden Library and anywhere that Bobcat Cash is accepted.
Chapter 1347.05 of the Ohio Revised Code requires state and local agencies to take reasonable precautions to protect personal information in the system from unauthorized modification
destruction use or disclosure.
I see no reason to use social security numbers on the cards said Beth Givens, founder and director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. It would be a good idea if the university ceased placing social security numbers on the cards immediately.
Givens said that identity theft has reached epidemic levels and that social security numbers are key to that process. She advised students to check their credit reports to see if they have been victims of identity theft.
In various data security breaches, 173,000 social security numbers of people associated with the university were compromised.
OU's Chief Information Officer William Sams refused to comment on the use of student social security numbers on identification cards.
What we have to have is a unique identifier
and at this point in time it's the social security number
said David Dudding, head of Library Systems, on why the library uses social security numbers. It is the only number the system can use for both students and university employees, he said.
The university has spent ten years trying to replace the social security number, said William Rhinehart, assistant dean for Technical Services. Decoupling (social security numbers) from campus systems is a huge task
he said. Currently
the library can't manage without social security numbers.
Students should be notified of this use of their information, said Yong Liu, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science, it's an unnecessary risk.
Junior music education major Jennifer Climer agreed. Social security numbers can give someone a lot of information about you, she said, It's very scary to think about actually.
An overhaul of campus identity management systems that will end the use of social security numbers is scheduled to begin in late 2007, Sams said, and will take approximately one year to complete. A venor for a separate but simultaneous update of the student information system will be chosen in May 2007, Sams said. The project was scheduled to start in February and cost $10 million to $20 million, according to a May 31 Post article.
We are doing everything we can to remove or encrypt social security numbers on campus
Sams said. This is a complex
long-term project that involves dozens of applications.
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