3 ms·
100% agree with this. Our SSNs are fully “compromised” many times over at this point. Scare quotes because—as far as I know—they weren’t originally regarded as
by function_seven 6y ago
100% agree with this. Our SSNs are fully “compromised” many times over at this point. Scare quotes because—as far as I know—they weren’t originally regarded as a secret to begin with.
But the fiction of a secret SSN still persists. You're told to protect it; sensitive financial documents ask for it as part of proving you’re you; forgotten password pages use the last 4 digits as some sort of 2nd factor.
The best thing that could happen is if the names and corresponding numbers were published far and wide. So obviously public that nobody could keep this fiction up.
Banks and other high-stakes firms need to figure out how they want to identify their clients. It’s not an easy problem to solve, I get that. But that doesn’t mean we should be happy with them taking the easy way out.
- LinuxBender 6y agoI was required to write my SSN on all my checks and had to use it to get food in the chow hall whilst in the military. It was a very public number.
- function_seven 6y agoHa, you just reminded me of my student ID number in college. Also used to purchase snacks and meals at the commons. In the strangest of coincidences, it was my SSN.