> I wouldn't be surprised if they were required, by the government, to use them, precisely because it is the closest thing to an official "unique identifier".

> I wouldn't be surprised if they were required, by the government, to use them, precisely because it is the closest thing to an official "unique identifier". I read something somewhere else (maybe on a different HN thread, maybe here?) that this was changed in 2000 for something called "red flag laws", IIRC. So yeah - it is required.