So what if SSNs are easy to guess? Anybody dumb enough to use SSN as a private or secret code ought to be given notice. Instead, let’s go the other way and have the govt. publish everybody’s SSN as their unique personal U.S. citizenship number, along with an official secure citizenship info. file that is publicly readable. In the Internet age, why do people have to register with Web sites by typing name, address, etc., when they should just be able to type their SSN and let the site pull up their public file? Why do people applying for govt. services have to fill out all that repetitive info. every time? Why can people still get away with stealing identities of deceased persons?
Now, a way to establish a given person’s identity for
issuing bearer documents such as driver’s licenses, passports, bank accounts, etc., that should be considered a different problem, requiring a hi tech solution grounded in good ole photos, fingerprints and signatures. But first every citizen should have an official public govt.-maintained data file to make life easier for them after they prove they are who they say they are.
Forget about all the fiction about Big Brother, 666, etc., it needn’t be a nighmare but a solution.
The Veterans Admininstration uses the last four digits of the SSN for identification for all of its members!!!
So what if SSNs are easy to guess? Anybody dumb enough to use SSN as a private or secret code ought to be given notice. Instead, let’s go the other way and have the govt. publish everybody’s SSN as their unique personal U.S. citizenship number, along with an official secure citizenship info. file that is publicly readable. In the Internet age, why do people have to register with Web sites by typing name, address, etc., when they should just be able to type their SSN and let the site pull up their public file? Why do people applying for govt. services have to fill out all that repetitive info. every time? Why can people still get away with stealing identities of deceased persons?
Now, a way to establish a given person’s identity for
issuing bearer documents such as driver’s licenses, passports, bank accounts, etc., that should be considered a different problem, requiring a hi tech solution grounded in good ole photos, fingerprints and signatures. But first every citizen should have an official public govt.-maintained data file to make life easier for them after they prove they are who they say they are.
Forget about all the fiction about Big Brother, 666, etc., it needn’t be a nighmare but a solution.