Other subchapters in this chapter (GN 03300.000) deal with specific disclosure issues.

For questions about...

See...

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  Disclosure with consent
  
  GN 03305.000

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  Disclosure without consent, (e.g., to Federal, State, local
  
  agencies, law enforcement)
  
  GN 03316.045

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  Deceased or missing persons
  
  GN 03315.000

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  Tax return information
  
  GN 03320.000

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  SSNs
  
  GN 03325.000

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  Court orders, subpoenas
  
  GN 03330.000

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  Access to records by individuals
  
  GN 03340.000

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  Disclosure via telephone, certification of records, POMS,
  
  administrative records or other non-personal information
  
  GN 03360.000

This chart shows what different components should do to get information about situations not specifically covered in POMS.

In 1937 the original Social Security Board established Regulation No. 1. This simple document guaranteed the confidentiality and privacy of all records compiled by the Board. The regulation was needed to ensure the confidentiality of records furnished by employees, employers and others so that these sources of information would not be reluctant to submit complete and accurate information.

In 1939 Section 1106 of the Social Security Act was enacted. It became the statutory basis for maintaining the confidentiality of SSA records.

In 1966, in response to the public's desire to know more about what government was doing and why, Congress passed the Freedom of Information Act (P.L. 93-502), opening the workings of government to the public eye.

In 1974, substantial amendments to the FOIA affected our policies on what administrative and instructional material must be released to the public upon request, as well as personal information if it did not constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual's personal privacy.

In 1996, P.L. 104-231, the Electronic Freedom of Information Act (EFOIA) Amendments, amended the FOIA to provide for public access to government information electronically or in other formats as requested.

The Internal Revenue Code (IRC), as amended by the Tax Reform Act of 1976, added section 6103 which affected SSA's use of and disclosure of wage and self-employment income. These data are tax return information and can be used and disclosed, or as authorized by Section 6103 of the IRC by SSA only to administer the parts of the Social Security Act for which SSA has responsibility. Disclosure of tax return data for other purposes is prohibited unless specifically permitted under the Internal Revenue Code or other statutes, or otherwise authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury or the Commissioner of IRS.

The Government in the Sunshine Act, effective in 1977, amended the FOIA so that information could not be withheld from the public on the basis of a statute unless the statute is specific about what must be withheld or leaves no discretion on the issue. Thus section 1106(a) of the Social Security Act no longer qualified as a statute under Exemption 3 of the FOIA that could be cited as a legal basis for denying requests for information when the FOIA applied.

This shifted SSA's reliance for restricting disclosure from section 1106(a) to the FOIA, under which everything must be disclosed, with exceptions. The burden was placed on SSA to justify withholding, rather than on the requester to justify disclosure.

In 1989, a U.S. Supreme Court decision, U.S. Department of Justice vs. Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press (Reporters Committee decision), significantly affected SSA's policies on disclosing personal information under the FOIA. The decision limits disclosure of personal information about living individuals under the FOIA to those instances where:

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  disclosure would inform the general public as to how a Federal agency performs its statutory duties, and

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  this public interest outweighs the individual's right to privacy.