Re:The careless errors of credit reporting agencies
by loeg on Sunday September 11, 2016 @01:00PM
(#12474296)
> How much is this connected to not having a real id card?
Social security number is sort of that. But various businesses keep accepting it blindly from fraudsters ("identity thieves"). So for now it remains semi-private because it is overused for authentication.
> Another concept that I don't understand is that USA's social security number has to be kept secret or otherwise your identity can be stolen. How that is even possible? Doesn't your employer needs it?
The trouble is really that it is accepted as a an authentication credential in many places, even though it is just a not-very-random unique number.
Social security number is sort of that. But various businesses keep accepting it blindly from fraudsters ("identity thieves"). So for now it remains semi-private because it is overused for authentication.
> Another concept that I don't understand is that USA's social security number has to be kept secret or otherwise your identity can be stolen. How that is even possible? Doesn't your employer needs it?
The trouble is really that it is accepted as a an authentication credential in many places, even though it is just a not-very-random unique number.