"Protecting" your SSN.........

You hear a lot about protecting against ID theft, data stolen when a computer comes up misssing, and such.
As I understand it, a persons SSN is one of the things to be "protected".
Hogwash.
Maybe you SHOULD protect it, but it's not always simple. Theres no way to protect your number in an on-going manner, unless, in the majority of cases, you have a viable option of saying NO.
A couple weeks ago I was none too happy about having to provide my SSN to a prospective landlord, but did anyway, not many choices. Ended up not even renting the place, but he still has the number, no way to "un-give" it.
Then yesterday, I was filling out an on-line application for a job at ****'s Sporting Goods. They use a site called Job Seeker or something like that. To appy at ****'s, you MUST go thru this other outfit, and your SSN is a REQUIRED field for registration. So, even though ****'s itself does not need or use the number, I had to provide it, online, to an unknown third party! Or else, not apply, choose one........thats part of the "viable option" problem mentioned above.
At this point, screw it, if somebody wants my SSN just ask, you can have it, everybody else has it, no reason you should be left out........or just do a Google search, it's probably on there!

I just read an article on AOL that stopping the ID theft will be getting harder. It appears that a consumer can no longer put a "hold" on their credit is theft has occurred. (Could be pending litigation but think they said it's now)

Scary stuff!

I am troubled about this too. But resistance seems futile.

When Franklin Roosevelt first tried to ram Social Security down our throats, there was resistance. Some people were afraid we would have a national ID card. Roosevelt promised us the Social Security number would never be used for anything but Social Security.

It was also deemed unconstitutional by a 5 to 4 vote. Roosevelt fixed this by appointing two more judges to the Supreme Court. even with the two extra <expletive deleted> judges on the Supreme Court, they deemed it constitutional only if the money taken from us was put into a trust fund. Ever peeked into that trust fund? Nothing there but IOUs.

I probably got my Social Security card around 1955. It plainly states it's not to be used for identification.


So what's a government promise worth? Hmmm, what's a dog turd worth?

I think it used to be a crime to require someone to give you their SSN. Now it's apparently encouraged by the <expletive deleted> in the government.

I can't get a bank account without giving my SSN. I can't get a drivers license without giving the <expletive deleted> in the state DMV my SSN.

My phone company wanted my SSN, but I was able to get phone service without it. I can't log on to my phone account on the internet though.

The <expletive deleteds> in the government get away with this because the people don't care. I'm afraid we are no longer taught to fight for our freedom.
As long as we keep electing people who don't respect us, don't respect America, and don't respect freedom, it's only going to get worse.

Speaking of SSN and bank accounts, the first item on the DrudgeReport this morning is "Feds tap vast banking database in secret".

Since I was born the SSN has always been used as a unique identifier for countless things and treated as a defacto national ID card. (Anything health-related, banking, ownership, insurance, schooling, etc)

Then about the mid-90's when I was working at MIT they had a HUGE expensive reorg to stop using SSN's as ID's around the place, since it was used for everything from admissions to computer accounts, parking id's etc. IT'S A VIOLATION OF PRIVACY was the mantra.

Now I don't see the point 'cause it's used for so many other things.

Yep, resistance seems futile.

Of course, I'm so far off the deep end that I also feel I shouldn't have to drive around with a stupid metal ID plate tacked to my car either, as though it belongs to someone else and that driving it is a privilege granted to me by the gov. That's probably not a normal reaction either.

Don't get me wrong -- I don't see a conspiracy. I just see a bunch of greedy dumb$$es trying to keep & expand their jobs.

I stole my own SSN from my own wallet..... filled in the college I want to go to's applications without my permission and lost it afterwards also without my permission, it has completely disintegrated in the laundry...I have a copy of it used for School documentation.

Should I go and reprint it back in the immigration center, since I still have my passport?



jeez, the expresso and the lemon tarts are getting to my senses...
:drunk: on coffee...

Well don't go overboard. When driving on a public road, if you should hit someone, it seems reasonable to have a license number visible. Just like it seems reasonable to me to have police arrest speeders, because that could be a danger to others. I'll even look the other way on those occasions when speeding tickets seem more like a way for the <expletive deleted> to take our money than a safety thing.

Peeking in our cars with night vision goggles to see if they can extract money from us for failing to wear our seatbelts is another thing.

One other thing I observed when getting my driver's license. The <expletive deleted> required my birth certificate. Well I had one for 50 years and used it to get my passport, but it wasn't good enough for them, because it wasn't embossed. I asked where I could get one of those and they said I could order one on the internet. Well I could and did. But if I can order my birth certificate on the internet, wouldn't anyone be able to order my birth certificate on the internet?

Another thing that puzzled me is why the DMV wasn't interested in whether I could drive or not. Apparently the only requirement for a driver's license in NYS is a birth certificate and SSN. What does a birth certificate and SSN have to do with driving?

It is not easy to "protect" a SSN. Still, you want to try. You must supply it to your employer and banks for tax purposes, or you could get a Taxpayer ID number from the IRS. I'm not sure if they will do this for someone with a SSN, though.

Landlords will demand a SSN, so there is some trust there that goes both ways. Other businesses have no business asking for a SSN and I would probably walk away from one that did.

If you guys think YOU'VE been screwed, get a load of this: I was up for promotion in my government agency. Aside from my long list of commendations and achievements (arresting bad guys, saving people's lives, working with other agencies, getting honor graduate in a month long multi agency training course beating DEA and Secret Service), I was the most senior person on the promotion list. However, the list was ordered by SSN, lowest to highest. Being born in California, my SSN begins with 5. Others on the list were born back East and had lower SSNs and were "above" me on the list. When the promotions were handed out, I didn't make the cut. Junior people to me were promoted over me, for no other reason than their SSN. I confirmed this. One of my academy classmates was also not promoted because she was also born in California.

You might say I'm a little bitter. . .

Lightraven said:

If you guys think YOU'VE been screwed, get a load of this: I was up for promotion in my government agency. Aside from my long list of commendations and achievements (arresting bad guys, saving people's lives, working with other agencies, getting honor graduate in a month long multi agency training course beating DEA and Secret Service), I was the most senior person on the promotion list. However, the list was ordered by SSN, lowest to highest. Being born in California, my SSN begins with 5. Others on the list were born back East and had lower SSNs and were "above" me on the list. When the promotions were handed out, I didn't make the cut. Junior people to me were promoted over me, for no other reason than their SSN. I confirmed this. One of my academy classmates was also not promoted because she was also born in California.

Click to expand...

Wow, that truly stinks. No merit incentive there.
Totally unimportant, but sorta funny -- It's also an eye-opener that I'm really old. I was born in CA too but my SSN begins with a 1. Hmmm. It all goes by so fast.

binky said:

I was born in CA too but my SSN begins with a 1.

Click to expand...

You all probably already know this, but I wanted to clarify that the beginning digits of one's SSN are not based on where they were born, but on where they lived when a SSN was requested on their behalf.

JM-99

Whoops! Maybe not knowing that was why I didn't get the promotion!

I was only told by those in the know, that the list is spit out of the computer ranked top to bottom by SSN. The command staff lamely explained to my grumbling coworkers and me that they went "right down the list to be fair." I worked with the guys who got promoted and, uh. . .merit, it was not.

I guess it beats the old system--mow the chief's lawn every weekend, you get promoted.