"There is no evidence that this information has been misused," according to the statement. "However, due to the potential that this information was downloaded prior to being removed, USDA will provide ... additional [credit] monitoring service."

The USDA said it became aware of the potential exposure of such information on April 13, when the agency was notified by a recipient of USDA funding that she was able to ascertain identifying information by viewing the website. All of the personally identifying information was embedded in the larger ID numbers and therefore not immediately easy to spot. The same day, all identification numbers associated with USDA funding were removed.

The USDA said it believes that immediately prior to April 13, the Social Security numbers of people who received USDA funding from the Farm Service Agency and USDA Rural Development had been publicly available. "USDA has identified between 105,000 and 150,000 individuals whose private information has been entered into a federal government database at some time during the past 26 years. USDA is in the process of notifying, via registered mail, all 150,000 people whose information was exposed and offering them the opportunity to register for free credit monitoring for one year," according to the statement.

The Census Bureau could not be reached for comment.

On April 16, the U.S. Department of Commerce requested that OMB Watch redact the Federal Award ID for the entire FAADS database on FedSpending.org for 30 days so that all departments and agencies involved in the important matter can be contacted, according to the statement.

Bass said OMB Watch would comply with the request if, within 30 days, the Department of Commerce, which oversees the Census Bureau, agreed to develop a plan to update the Federal Award ID field without using personally identifiable information.

Bass said the Commerce Department agreed to develop such a plan. But if that effort is not acceptable, OMB Watch reserved the right to repost the original information—including users' Social Security numbers.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said OMB Watch would not be violating any laws by reposting the personal identifiable information. "It's the government agency that's subject to the obligation of the privacy act," Rotenberg said. "It's the government agency's fault here, not the nonprofit educational group."