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Hell, they might as well. Our college used them as ID numbers for the first year I was there. We wrote it on all our tests. Forget about it, that stuff isn't se

Hell, they might as well. Our college used them as ID numbers for the first year I was there. We wrote it on all our tests. Forget about it, that stuff isn't secure.

RK 16y ago
My brother had his identity stolen while he was in school. The perpetrator turned out to be a person who worked in the registrar's office! When I started grad school they used SSN as the ID number too. I went to the registrar and asked them to change mine. They said they couldn't do it because, as a TA, I was considered an employee and they "had to" use my SSN. You can imagine I wasn't happy.
pavel_lishin 16y ago
I was working for the graduate dean's office at my university, and was helping set up a big presentation for new teaching assistants. One of the talks being given was the importance of security and privacy, with a lot of focus on keeping your SSN secure. As the talk began, the presenter passed around a sheet and asked everyone to sign in - with their name, school, and social security number. It made it halfway around the big conference hall, and halfway through the talk, before someone finally raised their hand and asked about the incongruity of being at a talk about the importance of keeping SSN's secret, while being asked to sign in with them.
whakojacko 16y ago
My school still does. I believe you can get it changed, but its a PITA
grayrest 16y ago
Georgia Tech started off doing this and switched over to a fake 9 digit number while I was there (2001?ish). Since I still remember/recognize it, I use it as my SSN more or less everywhere except for work/W2.
barake 16y ago
Wow, how long ago was this? Totally a FERPA violation these days. Hell, even the randomly generated student IDs may be private soon. We're already implementing PINs that will need to be entered before staff can talk to students about billing and aid.

Hell, they might as well. Our college used them as ID numbers for the first year I was there. We wrote it on all our tests. Forget about it, that stuff isn't secure.

RK 16y ago

My brother had his identity stolen while he was in school. The perpetrator turned out to be a person who worked in the registrar's office! When I started grad school they used SSN as the ID number too. I went to the registrar and asked them to change mine. They said they couldn't do it because, as a TA, I was considered an employee and they "had to" use my SSN. You can imagine I wasn't happy.

pavel_lishin 16y ago

I was working for the graduate dean's office at my university, and was helping set up a big presentation for new teaching assistants. One of the talks being given was the importance of security and privacy, with a lot of focus on keeping your SSN secure. As the talk began, the presenter passed around a sheet and asked everyone to sign in - with their name, school, and social security number. It made it halfway around the big conference hall, and halfway through the talk, before someone finally raised their hand and asked about the incongruity of being at a talk about the importance of keeping SSN's secret, while being asked to sign in with them.

whakojacko 16y ago

My school still does. I believe you can get it changed, but its a PITA

grayrest 16y ago

Georgia Tech started off doing this and switched over to a fake 9 digit number while I was there (2001?ish). Since I still remember/recognize it, I use it as my SSN more or less everywhere except for work/W2.

barake 16y ago

Wow, how long ago was this? Totally a FERPA violation these days. Hell, even the randomly generated student IDs may be private soon. We're already implementing PINs that will need to be entered before staff can talk to students about billing and aid.