Under 14? No social media for you!

[Donut417]

2 hours ago, IkeaGnome said:

you didn't need the SSN to get a RealID, what's stopping me from getting an ID in your name?

They required my birth certificate, because I have an enhanced license. Also they quizzed me on the contents of my birth certificate. 

[StDragon]

2 hours ago, IkeaGnome said:

No, I'm not. 

 

Want it repeated again?

 

^ LOL, you just described the US Gov. The SSN is one giant moving goalpost in terms of scope-creep.

How We Got Social Security Numbers | HISTORY

[BrandonTech.05]

6 hours ago, StDragon said:

You're missing the entire point. The SSN was never meant to be a primary form of identification. But now it has. 

"The Social Security number (SSN) was created in 1936 for the sole purpose of tracking the earnings histories of U.S. workers, for use in determining Social Security benefit entitlement and computing benefit levels. Since then, use of the SSN has expanded substantially. Today the SSN may be the most commonly used numbering system in the United States. As of December 2008, the Social Security Administration (SSA) had issued over 450 million original SSNs, and nearly every legal resident of the United States had one. The SSN's very universality has led to its adoption throughout government and the private sector as a chief means of identifying and gathering information about an individual.

How did the SSN come to be, and why has it become an unofficial national identifier? This article explores the history and meaning of the SSN and the Social Security card..."

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

The reason ssn's are going to keep becoming Important for identifying people is because as time goes on we are going to use more verification programs like what Florida is proposing. We are going to be giving out our ID more and more. 

It's eventually going to be impossible to verify ourselves in a reliable way. 

[StDragon]

Just now, BrandonTech.05 said:

The reason ssn's are going to keep becoming Important is because as time goes on we are going to use more verification programs like what Florida is proposing. We are going to be giving out our ID more and more. 

It's eventually going to be impossible to verify ourselves in a reliable way. 

Just to make my position on this more clear. In a **perfect world, I'm not opposed to an official ID. However, there's three outstanding problems I take issue with.

1. When the SSN was debated in Congress, it was forewarned it would be used carelessly and abused. This turned out to be correct.
2. SSN are being exposed with regards to how Personal Identifiable Information (PII) gets secured; or the lack thereof.
3. It rewards false intentions, if not outright lies when being legislated by our elected officials. This is a moral hazard where the ends don't justify the means.

If there's going to be a national ID, there needs to be stricter regulations with how this is applied, accessed, and stored. Though it's a bit late when over 143 MILLION records have been exposed from one of the three largest CRAs (in this case, Equifax).

**We don't live in a perfect world, so I'm exceedingly skeptical that this wouldn't be abused; either willfully or through negligence. Identity theft is a big deal.

I quote SSA.gov in bold per the PDF linked above from page 1.

"We don’t give your number to anyone, except when authorized by law. You should be careful about sharing your number, even when you’re asked for it."

Uh huh, about that...

[Kisai]

55 minutes ago, StDragon said:

If there's going to be a national ID, there needs to be stricter regulations with how this is applied, accessed, and stored. Though it's a bit late when over 143 MILLION records have been exposed from one of the three largest CRAs (in this case, Equifax).

Consider that the 9-digit number is not enough to cover everyone. The population of the US is 333m, so that means every third number has to be a living person TODAY, and doesn't cover SSN reuse. That reuse is what gets companies in trouble. Because a SSN might belong to a living person, or it might be stolen for a fake identity, or it might belong to a dead person, but computer systems don't think they're dead.

 

My mom ran into this problem (Canada) way back in the 80's (which has a 9 digit SIN) when they tried to declare dad dead, when he absolutely wasn't.

 

That's just going to keep happening as long as taxpayer numbers get used for things they shouldn't.

 

At least a passport is fairly standardized. 

https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/markets/digital-identity-and-security/government/passport/passport-security-design

 

Drivers licenses in north America are not standardized, and also state id's for people who do not drive often are drivers licenses in ID systems.

 

Like on the BC "Accepted ID" list:

You can use one of these ONLY with a Canadian document (Eg birth certificate, immigration record. The SIN card is not on the list.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/government-id/bcservicescardapp/id

 

So the thing is, how is a social media site or an adult site supposed to know what all these ID cards look like? They can't. Just Canada lone there are at least 26 different kinds of provincial ID cards. I'm sure the US has 110 different ones.

 

Third party services verifying these, just moves the posts of who is ultimately responsible when personal data leaks.