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Social Security Numbers Can Be Guessed
BotScout writes "The nation's Social Security numbering scheme has left millions of citizens vulnerable to privacy breaches, according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, who for the first time have used statistical techniques to predict Social Security numbers solely from an individual's date and location of birth. The researchers used the information they gleaned to predict, in one try, the first five digits of a person's Social Security number 44 percent of the time for 160,000 people born between 1989 and 2003. A Social Security Administration spokesman said the government has long cautioned the private sector against using a social security number as a personal identifier, even as it insists 'there is no fool-proof method for predicting a person's Social Security Number.'" Update: 07/07 00:01 GMT by T : Reader angrytuna links to Wired's coverage of the SSN deduction system, and links to the researchers' FAQ at Carnegie Mellon, which says that the research paper will be presented at BlackHat Las Vegas later this month.
In my opinion, Congress has been criminally negligent in allowing this to continue for this long.
Because Congress must pass laws to protect us from ourselves?
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What really boggled my mind was that co-workers of mine were perplexed at my distaste for RealID even after pointing out the dangers of one's SSN getting into the wrong hands. If you think Social Security Numbers are scary you need to look at how RealID can really mess with your life.
Let me rebut every single one of your points with one phrase.
-> If we don't do the system right, we're going to live with a system done wrong -
Protesting RealID doesn't do anything but extend the period where your SSN is identification -- and it's a TERRIBLE form of identificaion. I want a 128-bit number, AT LEAST, not this 30-bit nonsense.