From Bad To Worse? SSNs Apparently Provided To Foreign Nationals In Firm's India Office

Concern is being expressed today by the appearance that foreign nationals will be given open access to the Social Security numbers of thousands of Oklahoma County residents under a contract approved by the Board of County Commissioners at the request of County Clerk Carolynn Caudill.

The Social Security numbers are contained in documents posted on Caudill's official website for about two years; it was not until recently, however, that the ease with which the numbers can be obtained was realized. The McCarville Report Online's story on Tuesday was the first public disclosure.

Since then, officials have been contacted by some who are concerned about how easy it is to obtain their Social Security numbers. Among those contacted is Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater, whose SSN is easily obtained on Caudill's site.

The disclosure of Social Security numbers by any public official appears to be prohibited by federal law.

Caudill defended herself, and the posting of the SSNs, in an interview with Fox 25 News anchor Andrew Speno. View the interview at http://www.okcfox.com/players/news/top_stories/vid_839.shtml.

Despite Caudill's past statements, the numbers have not been redacted, or blacked out or removed, and it was only on Wednesday that her request to hire a firm to conduct the redacting was approved.

The firm recommended by Caudill is HTC Global Inc., based in Troy, Michigan, which uses IT personnel in its foreign offices, including those in China, India and Malaysia, to perform much of its Internet work. The firm's website identifies its office in Chennai, India, as its "base for our offshore project and production work."

An email to R. Ravi Shankar at HTC Global in Michigan asking for information has not yet drawn a response. Other contacts listed for the company in Oklahoma County documents are Natraj Kumar and Rajesh Raghavan.

The company's website provides the following information: "Established in 1990, HTC is an Inc. 500 Hall of Fame company offering proven information technology solutions to our global customers. As a leading information technology solutions provider, we help our customers reach out to their clients, employees and suppliers through cutting edge technology solutions built with SEI-CMM Level 5 and ISO-9001:2000 compliant processes. We are based in Troy, Michigan. We have international offices in Sydney (Australia), Singapore, Mumbai and Bangalore (India), and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). Our Global Delivery Center in Chennai, India provides the base for our offshore project and production work. Staffed by a team of highly qualified and experienced professionals, HTC offers business specific solutions in the following verticals - Automotive and Manufacturing, Healthcare, Insurance and Finance, Retail, Technology, Publishing, Government , Telecom, and Energy and Utilities. HTC is a certified Minority Business Enterprise recognized by the Michigan Business Development Council (MMBDC)."

HTC Global, documents on file at the county show, is charged with reviewing any redactions made by a previous vendor, AmCad. The documents do not appear to contain any requirement that the records provided HTC Global be kept confidential. There is reference to the information being provided via a "secure" server.

Stan Inman, former county commissioner who is a candidate for the Republican nomination for county clerk against Caudill, said the firm's foreign connection "makes this a worldwide disgrace."

He said providing the Social Security numbers is an "ID theft goldmine."

"This opens the county up to lawsuits about ID theft," Inman said of the posting of the numbers. "Once out, you can never get them back."

Inman said, "The scary part of it (use of the company with worldwide technicians) is that anyone can get a Social Security number and get into this country."

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