Quoting Sampo Syreeni <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> On Wed, 23 May 2001, Faustine wrote:
>
> >Certainly you're right, generally speaking. But if you amble on over
> to http://www.loompanics.com you can pick up books on any number of nifty
> frauds you can commit with SSNs because of the way things are set up in the US
> today.
>
> All the more reason to post your number. That's the best way to
> undermine
> both the uniqueness (people can copy) and legal responsibility
> ("*everybody* knows my number") that (may) come with SSNs.
That's fine in principle. But the bottom line is that as long as this system is
in place, anyone who takes a dislike to the revealer--fed, marketer, or random
nutcase--could do a lot of damage. Not just with credit, but in a thousand
other ways to make life an absolute living hell. More power to you, but that
degree of trust is totally beyond me. I don't even open e-mail I'm not
expecting...
Maybe it's different where you are, but why put yourself at the mercy of
everyone you ever pissed off? If somebody published the entire US database, it
would be a completely different question. Short of that, total openness on any
one individual's part invites easily avoidable crimes of opportunity. Even if
you can argue your way out of legal responsibility, (not a sure thing by any
means) why risk it? I might not know what it is, but I do know there's got to
be a better way to make the point than rendering yourself (and the people you
agree with) 100% vulnerable. Good luck though!
~Faustine.
****
'We live in a century in which obscurity protects better than the law--and
reassures more than innocence can.' Antoine Rivarol (1753-1801).
