Australia doesn't have a national identity card, and we don't have anything that's used like the SSN. Indeed, the Tax File Number (which identifies one's tax re

Australia doesn't have a national identity card, and we don't have anything that's used like the SSN. Indeed, the Tax File Number (which identifies one's tax record, similarly to how the IRS uses the SSN) is legally protected such that it's a criminal offence for anyone other than the Tax Office, an employer, a financial institution or an accountant to even ask you to provide it. Centrelink Customer Reference Numbers (which are used for our equivalent of the Social Security program) aren't legally protected (as far as I know), but since only half the population even has one, the only reason a private sector organisation will ask you for it is to check that you're receiving social security benefits. You do see driver's licence and passport numbers being used, but it's far from the de facto standard that the SSN is, and thus far less of a data security nightmare.