The
following clause has been prosecuted against individuals by U.S.
government agents. It is allegedly authorized by the Commerce
Clause, extended not only to all economic activity, even
intrastate, but to all activity whatsoever, even noneconomic:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sec_42_00000408----000-.html
TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 7 > SUBCHAPTER II > § 408
§ 408. Penalties
Release date: 2003-07-24
(a) In general Whoever —
...
(7) for the purpose of causing an increase in any payment
authorized under this subchapter (or any other program financed
in whole or in part from Federal funds), or for the purpose of
causing a payment under this subchapter (or any such other
program) to be made when no payment is authorized thereunder, or
for the purpose of obtaining (for himself or any other person)
any payment or any other benefit to which he (or such other
person) is not entitled, or for the purpose of obtaining
anything of value from any person, or for any other purpose.
...
(B) with intent to deceive, falsely represents a number to be
the social security account number assigned by the Commissioner
of Social Security to him or to another person, when in fact
such number is not the social security account number assigned
by the Commissioner of Social Security to him or to such other
person; or
...
shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be
fined under title 18 or imprisoned for not more than five years,
or both.
______
Note that this is not confined to providing a social security
number to a federal agent or agency, or on a federal form or
document. It also applies to private transactions, such as
opening a bank account, applying for a loan, leasing an
apartment, or applying for a job. It is not limited to the
individual whose social security number is entered. Anyone
involved in the recordation of the SSN may also be prosecuted.
There is reason to suspect several such prosecutions have been
done by altering the records of use of social security numbers,
or some anonymous off-shore data entry clerk mistyping the
number into a computer, to make it appear a false number was
used. Since this can easily be done by anyone with access to the
records, we must issue this warning:
NEVER give or disclose a social security number to anyone for
any purpose whatsoever, unless they can and will effectively
guarantee, in writing, secured by a large bond, that any records
of the use of the number will be kept secure from all persons
who might have the capability to physically alter them to change
the number, for the remainder of your life. Furthermore, you
must be able to make and keep your own copy of any such records
in a secure location, backed by a video tape of the complete
transaction, with all records verified by a notary, and
affidavits of at least two independent witnesses to the complete
transaction and the social security number you provide.
In principle it might be safe to provide a social security
number just long enough to verify the records of the
correspondent, if no record is made of the number provided, but
this should only be done if one can be sure no record is made.
One might think, wrongly, that it would be a defense against
criminal conviction that there is no evidence the defendant
personally provided the incorrect number. However, apparently
courts are holding that if the number is found to be incorrect,
regardless of who made the error, the defendant is presumed to
have done it. Now, one might think at least a jury would refuse
to convict without such evidence, but since it is a matter of
interpreting a record, the judge may, and likely will, find that
there is no issue of fact and deny the defendant a jury
trial.
This is not a small matter. Convicting innocent persons on false
evidence is suspected in several cases. Anyone having
information about any such prosecutions is asked to contact the
author of this article.
For more on why this code is unconstitutional see http://www.constitution.org/col/02729_fed-usurp.htm