Law / United States / 
Texas
Texas limits on public display, Internet transmission and mailing of Social Security numbers
Tex. Bus. & Com. Code sec. 501.001
In force.
A sensitive categories rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Data subject rights
- Audit expectation
- none
As of .
What it requires
- Unless you are a government, do not intentionally communicate or make an individual's social security number available to the public, display it on a card or device required to access a product or service, or print it on mailed material unless state or federal law requires it or the mail is an application or form of a kind section 501.001(f) lists (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code sec. 501.001(a)(1), (2), (5), (f)).
- Unless you are a government, do not require an individual to transmit the individual's social security number over the Internet unless the connection is secure or the number is encrypted, and do not require it for access to a website unless a password, personal identification number or other authentication device is also required (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code sec. 501.001(a)(3), (4)).
- If an individual asks you in writing to stop using the individual's social security number in a manner section 501.001(a) prohibits, comply within 30 days of receiving the request, without a fee (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code sec. 501.001(d)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
What this law does
Section 501.001(a) bars a person other than a government from intentionally communicating or making an individual's social security number available to the public, displaying it on a card required to access a product or service, requiring its transmission over the Internet unless the connection is secure or the number is encrypted, requiring it for access to a website unless a password or other authentication device is also required, and printing it on mailed material unless state or federal law requires it.
On a written request from an individual to stop using the individual's social security number in a manner section 501.001(a) prohibits, the person must comply not later than the 30th day after the request is received and may not impose a fee.
Section 501.001 does not apply to the collection, use or release of a social security number required by state or federal law, its use for internal verification or administrative purposes, a document recorded or required to be open to the public, a court record, or an institution of higher education whose use is regulated by the Education Code. The history note of section 501.001 lists Acts 2007, 80th Legislature, chapter 885 (House Bill 2278), section 2.01, effective . House Bill 2278 (2007) is an act relating to a nonsubstantive revision of statutes relating to business and commerce.
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