But what would that have to do with the fact that neither private companies nor government organisations have ever been able to come up with a better form of identification than this?
I been getting automated phone calls notifying me of a package waiting for me at the Chinese Consulate. yaaa...no.
They got to do what they can, and it always seems that more security is needed in our criminalized society, against those among us who at this moment should be locked away in the prison house where they can do no harm against the law-abiding. I have to answer five questions to get into my bank account, with the knowledge to answer each being nearly impossible for an outsider to obtain, without going back 60 years and physically checking as a metaphysical historical investigator interviewing people in various places, some of them long dead. I have the option to permanently dispense with the five questions, and they take some time and typing to answer, but I would never do that. The more security and surveillance in this criminalized country, the better. My first assumption on anything that comes in over the phone or the internet is that it is criminal, unless I personally know the sender well.
FWIW, I have the last 4 of SS on hundreds of customers,our system blanks out the rest, I assume its the same with so many offices and industries where a full or partial was required back at inception,I even think the water and electric company have mine i'm pretty sure they did like a credit check of some sort way back when. I've never volunteered my complete social for a verification, at least not that I can recall: (edit: on second thought I've done that with a life insurance company when I didn't have the policy # handy) The times where i've done verification with the bank i've either used my card number, maybe my pin, and or confirmed the last deposit or check. I'd be hesitant to volunteer my first 5 but if I called them probably do it anyway, no way i'd give any info at all if they called me. In general since I agree that so many people have access to last 4, i'd really prefer that we don't have the gov't or businesses recommending that we start giving the same group of people the first 5, seems dumb.
I hope you did not give out those 5 numbers. You may want to confirm this with a letter from the social security office.
Does the SS/government even have the authority to tell anyone to ask for 5 digits instead of 4? Can SS/government tell anyone to cease and desist in asking for the last 4? Can the SS/government demand any of this?
As I recall the original law prohibited any use of you SS# for purposes of identification except by the SSA.
This was the sequence of our messages. You brought up Obama out of the blue and I pointed out that he is irrelevant to the topic;
I don't care who you talk to for health insurance, they are going to want to give them your SSN, along with a ream of other personal information, signed by you under the penalty of perjury. Then the team of personal information are going to be send to dozens or hundreds of businesses to check on and be added to that host of companies to also be able to sell and utilize your information for profit. Obamacare was added to the list for at after 10 years AT LEAST after of any medical care or insurance was all required. Those who don't care any health insurance who are trying to stay "under their radar" (generally to not pay their taxes, pay child support, judgements, etc) will be known the moment they go into ER for care, aside from if you car insurance or rent or whatever. They have it. Think no one knows? Call a firm who gets those - $15 to $65 will get you your SSN and your history in a few hours. About 12 years ago, I went into ER over heart concern, the woman handed my list of medications and dosages, I said gee I didn't list that up, she said it is just from a scan of my identity (without giving any SSN or ID). It was all there and only a couple of dosages were off. It's far worse now, much more is out there.
For the life of me I can't understand why that isn't done. We do that routinely to our pets but when someone even suggests we do it with our children the RW goes crazy. How many thousands of abducted little girls are being held prisoner in some pervert's backyard? Would you rather have your kid on a milk carton? As to this thread I hope that suggesting it may be an example of Kode's sprightly sense of humor won't see me infracted
