Equifax Again
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@mlnews said in Equifax Again:
TransUnion hacked too.
Oh man. Unbelievable! I say we burn the whole SSN system down.
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@nerdydad said in Equifax Again:
@mlnews said in Equifax Again:
TransUnion hacked too.
Oh man. Unbelievable! I say we burn the whole SSN system down.
SSN is not the issue, at all. The issue is 100% with these unscrupulous private companies that don't secure their information nor do they use any reliable form of ID. There is nothing particularly wrong with the SSN system.
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@scottalanmiller said in Equifax Again:
@nerdydad said in Equifax Again:
@mlnews said in Equifax Again:
TransUnion hacked too.
Oh man. Unbelievable! I say we burn the whole SSN system down.
SSN is not the issue, at all. The issue is 100% with these unscrupulous private companies that don't secure their information nor do they use any reliable form of ID. There is nothing particularly wrong with the SSN system.
The SSN system was never meant to be used for identification. It has devolved into that over the decades. Also, if you think the government is any better at protecting your private information, I have a bridge to sell...
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@wrx7m said in Equifax Again:
@scottalanmiller said in Equifax Again:
@nerdydad said in Equifax Again:
@mlnews said in Equifax Again:
TransUnion hacked too.
Oh man. Unbelievable! I say we burn the whole SSN system down.
SSN is not the issue, at all. The issue is 100% with these unscrupulous private companies that don't secure their information nor do they use any reliable form of ID. There is nothing particularly wrong with the SSN system.
The SSN system was never meant to be used for identification. It has devolved into that over the decades. Also, if you think the government is any better at protecting your private information, I have a bridge to sell...
It's not devolved, it remains not identification. The issue is agencies like Equifax taking something that isn't an ID (and explicitely says so directly on it) and copies it internally and chooses to use their own copy of it as an ID. Equifax is a private company. SSN has not changed and remains not an ID. It's not even unique, so it isn't possible to be an ID. But even if SSN was an ID, there is no issue at all there. SSNs should be public, knowing someone's ID should never matter. And it doesn't matter.
We do almost all have state IDs, they are on our driver's license. No one is concerned with those being "stolen". Know why? Because they are actual IDs.
The issue isn't that SSNs are IDs, or have turned into something that they shouldn't be, but that private companies use knowledge of SSNs as a password, which is totally different than an ID and a totally different issue that anyone talks about. If knowing an ID was an issue itself, just knowing someone's full name would be a problem. Obviously it is not.
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@scottalanmiller I get your point but using an SSN is one of the main things that identity theft is comprised of. If you have an SSN with someone's name and DOB, you can open lines of credit, file taxes, get a job, etc.
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@wrx7m said in Equifax Again:
@scottalanmiller I get your point but using an SSN is one of the main things that identity theft is comprised of. If you have an SSN with someone's name and DOB, you can open lines of credit, file taxes, get a job, etc.
Yes, but identity theft is limited to acts involving Equifax, TransUnion and other credit agencies. If it affects filing taxes or a job, that is a federal crime that the government or the person hiring you themselves is involved in the identify theft and you have legal recourse. Since SSN is not an ID, if a potential employer uses it as such, they are breaking the law and activily participating in the theft of your identity.
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The problem here is that we are seeing these three credit agencies as government agencies instead of private companies. The US gov't isn't allowed to use them to check on things, since they don't identify their data in any way the fed is allowed to use.
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@aaronstuder I watched that video some time ago, such a good channel.
