| Comment Number: | 531096-00066 |
| Received: | 8/4/2007 5:32:40 PM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | B Terry |
| State: | AZ |
| Agency: | Federal Trade Commission |
| Rule: | Private Sector Use of SSNs |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
The horses have not only left the barn, they are a hundred miles downstream. Trying to close the barn door now is ridiculous and a waste of taxpayer and small business money. You cannot ask all organizations to go back in time and delete all SS#s. Most don't know where they have gotten to, and it is out in cyberspace for all to see. If you required new policies *going forward* that all organizations need to assign a number to a patient, client, customer - that would make the most sense. But THIS IS AN EFFORT THAT YOU SHOULD HAVE MADE IN 1990 WHEN THE FIRST ID THEFTS WERE DISCOVERED! Most States have wisely removed the SS# from drivers licenses. It is unconscionable that my medical, driving, financial, home purchase, and personal data is all tied together by a number that clearly states on every issuing card "for use by Social Security admin only." Banks will fight any change at every turn, as will all financial institutions. By giving us that number, you made their lives easier - just as you made the Russian Mafia's job easier in their Phishing scams against honest, hardworking Americans. Perhaps the best and cheapest solution is to make it easy for people to get a new SS# ONE TIME. That new number could then be sent ONLY to the IRS and the SS Administration. The only two organizations that should have it. The rest is just commerce. Let the banks and medical groups sort it out. They had an easy ride with your system all these years. Now they get to be creative and come up with a better tracking mechanism that protects the people they say they are 'serving.' Law enforcement utilizes fingerprints and DNA now more than anything. And anyone who believes that the real creeps, terrorists, and money launderers are using their actual SS#, then they are too ignorant to be in law enforcement. How long would a new method take? Well, stop all use as of 1/1/08 and see. It took most of the states 18 months to switch everyone over from a SS# on a Drivers license to a random number. What took the longest? Convincing the Legislature that they SHOULD require the state driving license board to do that. In 1990 I figured out what a horrific thing it was to have my SS# on my license. I began lobbying the senate and the house to change that. I wrote letters to everyone from the governor on down to all the media. I was largely ignored. 7 years later a senator was the victim of ID Theft. Two years later the SS# came off the Drivers Licenses. How many miscreants had my SS# by then? Who knows?