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Tracking Devices For The Homeless
Posted by Rebecca Bolin on Thursday, July 01 @ 16:00:36 EDT Privacy
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is soon implementing the Homeless Management Information Strategies (HMIS). The program's deadline is October and calls for a computerized nationwide database to gather data about the homeless, originally designed to keep an accurate count. The current technical standards require shelters to obtain very specific data: race, social security number, health history, mental health, services rendered, length of stay, and other information. This data will be used for "improving homeless data collection and analysis at the local and national levels and specific statutorily based programmatic and planning requirements for addressing homeless needs." HUD provides specific contracting provisions and data entry fields, codes, and instructions for standardization.

Critics around the country are concerned about the plan. HUD has not exactly been clear about how this will be used, and critics claim the security is unlikely to be very robust. Some are concerned that the list could be used to discriminate against the poor for insurance, jobs, housing, or more. A more pressing concern, explicitly dismissed by HUD in the requirements, is that victims of domestic violence need confidentiality. Their data, some claim, could disclose their location and put them in danger, or victims might fear getting help if they must fill out a standard HUD data-entry questionairre for the records of indeterminate purpose. These concerns seem pretty fair, and no one is answering them.

So where are these records going? Who is reponsible for their security? Why does the government need mental health records tied to social security numbers for anyone, ever?

 
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SSN? (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Friday, July 02 @ 03:55:05 EDT
I'm sure the government is gathering it for tax purposes since that is the only allowed use for the government.

In other news, social security numbers will be taken at random stops to determine an accurate population count. Do not question this directive. It makes sense. Or else!


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