What’s your Social Security Number again?
Jul 3rd, 2008 by Micheal
I’m a huge fan of getting rid of SSN’s for use as identifiers. I’ve talked about problems I’ve had before with SSN’s, but this latest round bothers me. Again.
Now, I understand the need to have a Social Security Number, and why certain institutions need it, but why do they need to use it as an identifier?
Case in point. I recently applied for a loan. As usual, I was asked for my SSN and other information needed to apply for the loan. But when calling the company for information about the loan process, I’m greeted with the following: “This call may be monitored or recorded for quality control purposes.” SOP for businesses wanting to get around the Wiretap laws. Once I get to speak to someone, I get asked for my SSN. Not the last 4 digits mind you, the full number. Then I’m asked for various identifiers like my address, date of birth, and the answer to my security question.
What bothers is that they state they are recording/monitoring the call and then ask me for information that could lead to identity theft. So what happens if someone breaks in, listens to the recordings? All the encryption on the database in the world won’t prevent that. Or what about a rogue employee listening in on the calls as part of the alleged “quality control purposes?” What’s to stop them from writing down the information? Just because the information is (or isn’t, who knows) encrypted in the database, that doesn’t mean someone can’t listen to phone calls.
Instead, what about getting issued a company-tied id number? I call, get asked for my id number instead of my SSN, and go that route. Granted, there’s always a risk of someone listening to the call, writing down the information or listening to recordings, but at least this way it isn’t as available and easily abused as my SSN.
I’ve lost clients because I refused to give them my SSN. I’m not talking about private clients (for web / phpbb work) but real companies in my real job. If you’re not paying me a 1099, then you don’t need my SSN. And since my company is billing your company for my services, and you won’t be responsible for taking out taxes and so on, you don’t need it.
It used to be okay to request and use the SSN for an identifier because you knew it was going to be unique. Well, it’s supposed to be anyway. With illegal immigration, identity theft, and other scenarios along those lines it’s now a much bigger issue. The problem is, it’s tough to come up with an alternative.
Anything issued by the state or federal government can be co-opted just like your SSN. Anything that is unique to a company because a pain to remember, since you’ll have a different ID for every company that you deal with.