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i totally support this! i think this will lower identity theft rates in the us.

Prohibit using SSN as a password! Knowing my SSN shouldn't be any more valuable than knowing my address or telephone number.

An SSN is an =identifier=, not a password (authenticator). What needs to be prohibited is any use of SSN to access secure information without also requiring a securely established password or other authenticator. Paradoxically, I think the best way to eventually get there is for as many SSNs as possible to get lost and distributed. Once this really becomes a crisis, Congress will finally have the spur to take proper action.

My bank and my cell phone provider have both asked me to say my SSN out loud in a room full of strangers in order to identify myself. My SSN is required to change service on my utilities. Insurance companies have gone to personal identification numbers and birthdates as identification; what's up with banks and utilities that they so casually expose their customers to ID theft. Would it be fair to say they just don't care?

I totally support this move. I have been rebelling about providing my number for years...especially on health insurance cards and doctors' offices. Most states are catching on and changing drivers' license ID numbers. But the Feds have to change Medicare cards -- here is a service really keyed to SS#, but if you want to carry your card in your wallet, you are at risk if stolen. Other insurance companies are slowly changing their ID numbers.

One can understand why utilities ask for your number - they want to do a credit check before they give you an account. But it's more risk for the consumer.

If banks (like Citibank) can issue you a "one time" credit card number that maps to your account, maybe SS can do the same??

NEED LAWS TO PROTECT US!
Thanks.

I fully support this move. I may be wrong but I was under the impression that a Social Security Number was originally issued by the Department of Health and Human Services as a method of identification for Social Security retirement benefits ONLY. In fact, I think the card actually stated this at one time but I'm not sure of that.

Somewhere along the line its use as a general method of identification became common and later required by many businesses and agencies as a form of personal tracking.

To me, the ability to keep track of someone by a single ID number has always seemed to suggest a "Big Brother" mentality. And for those who are religeously inclined, the "mark of the beast (666)" comes to mind.

There is a positive side to the identity theft probelm...It has shown that the use of a centralized ID number is a very serious threat to personal security and individual privacy.

It states on your social security card "Not to be used as Identification" but like most laws these days it is ignored.

1936Gort - They don't say that anymore. My old one (I was born in 1957) had that blurb on it, but I had to replace the card in 1998 or thereabouts, and the new card has that verbage omitted.

I have refused to provide my SS# to anyone who is not legally authorized to have it. According to the SS administration that is your employer(s), banks and financial institutions where you have interest bearing accounts, and the US government. In the case of utilities, I do not provide it, but since that prevents them from doing a credit check, they charge a larger deposit in order to insure payment of the bill.
I have had to make a few exceptions over the last 20 years, when I first started to limit the organizations that I would give it too.
No organization that is not entitled to your number can require your number. That is a violation of federal law. But most people aren't aware of the laws already in place for at least 40 years that say we do not have to provide our number to anyone who thinks they have a right to it.
Congress is unlikely to help, since they are primarily beholden to business, not to ordinary citizens. And business likes it the way it is.

I believe your no.should not be included on your medicare card. I went to a seminare for meicare and they told"us older folks" to protect our no. then told us it was on the card.Some of us older folks said duh. Why do they include it? We got a blank stair, and no answer. Thank for my rant.
jrd

A CHALLENGE FOR THE TECH COMMUNITY
There is one way to totally protect any ssn. But, it is not a password. That is useless. Imagine purchasing an auto. The sales person has been working there three days, is a "greeter" (they have greeters and closers), was unemployed for five weeks before taking this commission-only "job" and sits with you in a room and takes all you personal information. If he needs the password with your SSN to access your credit information, you will have to give it to him. There is a system to fix this, but I am not going to post it here. Let's see if anyone is clever enough to figure it out.
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