Perilocity has a posting on SSNs. The thrust of the narrative is to identify ways to keep SSNs "confidential" and develop penalties when those methods (inevitably) fail. The problem is that even when organizations succeed in keeping SSNs "confidential," tens- or hundreds-of-thousands of people have access to them.
We need to turn this argument on its head and make all SSNs public record. Then, we can work towards a real solution that can protect the individual.
Their Capers’ Public Fields
any widely used identity key won’t ever be kept confidential,
so using such a common key is a bad idea.
Thanks for your insights on the Social Security Number issues. I agree with your point that publishing them is the best way to solve the abuse.
In the Netherlands the discussion is on introducing a new number that will replace our Social Security Number. The number, euphemistically called “social service number”, should be used in intra- and extra-government communications. It must also be used when receiving health-care and other services, like opening bank accounts.
The minister not only denies the fact that this new number will increase identity fraud, but even argues that it will increase protection against identity fraud. His argument comes down to the fact that we will be able to uniquely “bind” people to their number. That it won’t solve the issues at hand does not stop the process.
I was wondering if it would be usefuill to setup a public website where people are able to list their number as being “violated”. Any thoughts on this?