Bill proposes to protect Social Security details

California Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach) has introduced a bill that would ban the state's public agencies from providing Social Security numbers or any other personal data to anyone unless required by law.

The proposal responds to an incident last summer at U.C. Berkeley, when a researcher's computer, containing the names and social security numbers of 600,000 people, was hacked.

Senate Bill 13 proposes to repeal California laws that allow state agencies to release personal data to public and private researchers.

"The goal is to stop the state from using people's Social Security number as a default identifier," said Bowen.