If SSN were completely open and available to all, would that be a better
scenerio? ie. If everyone could get anyone's social, would it have the
same importance as an id#?
On Wed, 23 May 2001, Sampo Syreeni wrote:
> On Tue, 22 May 2001, Faustine wrote:
>
> >If some fed thought it would be a "fine public service" to post all of OUR
> >social security numbers online (truly easier than you know) would you still
> >think this was anything to be glad about? The fact that such a powerful ID
> >number exists on anyone at all is the real outrage, why not focus on that.
>
> Here we have SSN's assigned at birth, and they're everywhere - mine's
> 080978-0173. The difference is, people tend to realize that knowledge of the
> identifier does not constitute proof of identity.
>
> If the threat is other people, security through obscurity won't cut it. If
> the threat is the government, they already have the number. So what's the
> big deal with disclosure?
>
> >Promoting the idea of "no expectation of privacy for anyone, especially
> >people I don't like" hardly seems like a good idea.
>
> Well, that's the only way to do it without resorting to security through
> obscurity.
>
> Sampo Syreeni, aka decoy, mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED], gsm: +358-50-5756111
> student/math+cs/helsinki university, http://www.iki.fi/~decoy/front
