WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) -- U.S. House lawmakers are promising new federal laws by year's end to restrict some commercial uses of Social Security numbers, reports say.
"Whether Social Security numbers should be sold by Internet data brokers to anyone willing to pay ... that's a no-brainer," Texas Republican Joe Barton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said at a hearing.
In both the House and Senate there are at least three pieces of pending legislation that propose different approaches to the subject, CNET news.com said.
One bill, sponsored by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass, would require the Federal Trade Commission to limit the sale and purchase of those identifiers, with a few exceptions, such as law enforcement personnel.
Another measure, sponsored by Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fla., would restrict the display of SSNs on credit reports and on various government-issued documents and identification tags.
