Especially when we already have social security numbers, which are used for nefarious purposes by non-government entities all the time. And if you're over ~25,

Especially when we already have social security numbers, which are used for nefarious purposes by non-government entities all the time. And if you're over ~25, odds are your SSN is out in the wild thanks to Equifax. Replacing SSNs with an alternative built on public-key cryptography seems like the best way forward. I do not understand the opposition to this. Having citizens sign their tax returns, loan applications, etc. with their private key instead of just writing their SSN on it would eliminate most SSN-related identity theft and fraud.