From: Jamie Zawinski <jwz@netscape.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1996 07:59:08 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: SSNs (was Re: Internal Passports)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.91.960805040046.21970A-100000@eff.org>
Message-ID: <320652BC.31DF@netscape.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Black Unicorn wrote:
> 
[ ...random losers asking for your SSN... ]
> > I was horrified and gave a random number.
> 
> You should always be horrified, and always give a random number.

Well, it would be nice if it was that easy.  You (legally) need to give
the correct one to anyone who has to make a report about you to the IRS,
right?  Such as your employer.  But it's not always clear who else needs
it.  Is it needed to allow someone to do a credit check on you?  Is it
needed to get a driver's license?  (The fine print on the DMV forms says
"yes".)  Is it necessary to make use of employer-sponsored medical
insurance?  (I suspect that the answer to this one is "no", except for
the fact that when my employer set up my medical insurance they let the
insurance company use my SSN as my insurance-related-ID-number.  But in
any event, my dentist told me, "if you don't give it to us, they won't
pay.")

I don't like the idea of having a universal ID number, but neither do I
like the idea of having to go to extreme lengths to make the "right
thing" happen for something where my effort will have only moral impact,
not material.

If you already have a SSN, can you get a *new* one in any legal way?
(Sort of the same idea as changing your phone number to avoid
telemarketing scum...)

-- 
Jamie Zawinski    jwz@netscape.com   http://www.netscape.com/people/jwz/
``A signature isn't a return address, it is the ASCII equivalent of a
  black velvet clown painting; it's a rectangle of carets surrounding
  a quote from a literary giant of weeniedom like Heinlein or Dr. Who.''
                                                         -- Chris Maeda