Senators push to ditch social security numbers in light of Equifax hack

Re:Senators push to ditch social security numbers in light o... by jrhurst on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @08:15PM (#15658861)

> The original purpose of the SSN was to enable the Social Security Board to maintain accurate records of the earnings of individuals who worked in jobs covered under the Social Security program. The card was never intended to serve as a personal identification document—that is, it does not establish that the person presenting the card is actually the person whose name and SSN appear on the card.

https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v69n2/v69n2p55.html

So maybe there does need to be a federal or state identification method, but because we lack a legitimate method it should also be the responsibility of the individual to do due diligence that the person they're giving credit to is the person they say they are.

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Re:Senators push to ditch social security numbers in light o... by godzilla82 on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @08:50PM (#15659083)

> it should also be the responsibility of the individual to do due diligence

How? ask them to carry a copy of their address proof and id proof? As an individual, do you feel ok to have copies of your id and address proofs in the hands of low level clerks?

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Re:Senators push to ditch social security numbers in light o... by Karunamon on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @09:00PM (#15659141)

Exactly this. I’ve been on the recieving end of ID theft before. It was a pain in the ass for a small time, but mostly resolved with a few phone calls and 3 letters sent out. Still this is better than what is being proposed in this thread.

I’d really prefer not to need to carry around utility bills and other nonsense every time I need to conduct business. I’d also bid those folks consider what happens when you are homeless or otherwise don’t have a fixed address with utility bills in your name.

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