A Bloomberg reporter’s account of trying to get back his name and credit rating

Re:A Bloomberg reporter’s account of trying to get back his ... by Wowfunhappy on Monday August 12, 2019 @11:53AM (#20676560)

But aren't social security numbers effectively being used as national IDs right now? The fact that that they suck just makes fraud easier.

I don't see how modern society can function without some form of universal authentication. Alternately, if you live in a forest and don't need or want to participate in the financial system, I'm all for making a hypothetical national ID opt-in.

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Re:A Bloomberg reporter’s account of trying to get back his ... by rtkwe on Monday August 12, 2019 @01:17PM (#20677549)

SSNs aren't really an ID they're an ID number, without looking at other databases and traces left there's only really a name associated with each and no biometric data so there's no real way to confirm that the person you're looking at is actually the person assigned XXX-XX-XXXX.

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Re:A Bloomberg reporter’s account of trying to get back his ... by bigwavedave on Monday August 12, 2019 @03:52PM (#20679252)

Which is what makes it such a huge problem- they're treated as ID's whether they're supposed to or not. Regardless of original intent, regardless of what you or the government or anyone else says, they are treated as ID's by the vast majority of business and organizations. That's the whole point of this discussion and why it's such a problem.

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