The Washington Times ^ | Thursday, May 3, 2012 | Stephen Dinan
The Social Security Administration last month told its disability-claims judges they are no longer to seek out information from websites when deciding cases — taking away a tool some of those judges say would help in uncovering fraud.
Agency officials said reviewers can't trust information posted online, and also said the mere act of typing in queries could compromise protected private information, so they shouldn't try to access anything.
Social Security's ban covers all Internet sites, including social media such as Facebook.
But Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican and a top taxpayer watchdog, said avoiding the Internet means giving up a valuable anti-fraud weapon — one that he said even federal courts have relied upon in some disability cases.
"If an individual claims to be disabled, and then publicly posts a picture participating in a sport or physical activity on a social media website, such information should be used by [adjudicators] to determine if the claimant was truly disabled," Mr. Coburn wrote in a letter last week to Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue.
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