May 9, 2008
Q: I was refused service at the Yokosuka Base Community Bank. The reason provided is that I refused to provide my name, social security number and telephone number for them to input into their computer database. The Privacy Act of 1974 strictly forbids the collection of such data for the sole purpose of populating a database. I have no problem providing them my name and phone number or my social security and phone number, but will not provide all three. I asked the bank manager for the Department of Defense (DOD) or Navy directive giving permission and requiring them to establish that d a tabase and was provided information which is nothing more than a Community Bank “About Community Bank,” pamphlet but nothing about requiring the Privacy Act information. Is this a legal database driven by DOD or the Navy and if so by what directive? If this is not a legal database please put a stop to the collection. By the way, Sasebo Community Bank does not require this information, I am not sure, but the last time I was in Zama, they did not either.

A: Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding disclosing your personal information for a Community Bank transaction. The information below has been provided to us as a response to your comments. “We are allowed and required to obtain specific information about a customer to ensure and validate their identity as it applies to a specific transaction. We are also required to ensure that we know our customer based on the requirements of the USA PATRIOT Act and obtaining the requested information is one way we do that. The Privacy Law strictly prohibits sharing information outside of the purpose of a transaction, but it does not restrict the collection of the information for the purpose of conducting the transaction.”