| Comment Number: | 531096-00124 |
| Received: | 8/24/2007 7:35:13 PM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Kang |
| State: | NM |
| Agency: | Federal Trade Commission |
| Rule: | Private Sector Use of SSNs |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
I oppose any use of Social Security Numbers (SSNs) by the private sector except when absolutely necessary such as for reporting earned income. ... It *GREATLY* increases the probability of and virtually assures ID theft. It's impossible to guarantee the security of each and every one of the thousands of servers out there. Why allow SSNs to be put out on more servers than necessary? If ID theft ever happens to you, fixing it will cost you many miserable hours, money and tons of frustration, and it may never be fixed in the end. If a business lost your ID for you, that business will suffer little. ... It will encourage more dumb uses for SS numbers. I had to give my SSN to buy a 2007 WI non-resident fishing license. Now my SSN is sitting in some server waiting for a hacker to break in and steal it. Was my SSN really needed to sell me a non-resident fishing license? How dumb is this? Granted, the WI Dept. of Natural Resources isn't a private business but dumb actions aren't limited to gov agencies alone. Businesses can do pretty dumb things all by themselves like printing full credit card numbers on receipts until that practice got stopped. I know a grocery store that still prints the full expiration dates of credit cards on receipts. What for? ... It will be easier for businesses to track individual consumer purchases everywhere which I consider to be a form of spying. Yes, they do it now but why make it easier? IMO, there's a small but non-zero chance that allowing private use of SSNs may actually result in novel business-beneficial but consumer-abusive processes/practices to be invented and used. ... I oppose *ANY* unnecessary use of SS numbers by *ANY* public or private entity that can leave me potentially more vulnerable to criminals (this sentence is intended to be interpreted in the broadest sense). An easier or cheaper or better way to do business is not a good reason to allow use -- it's simply dumb and exposes consumers to unnecessary and unacceptable risk. It has no benefit for consumers. It may benefit businesses but I see no value for consumers. ... Why isn't there a current-topics-available-for-public-comment page with a link to it on the FTC home page? I only found the pdf file describing the request for public comment on SSNs by going to the FTC news release page and seaching for 'ssn' but there's no easy way to know from the FTC home page that public comment for anything was even being solicited. You had to know about it before you ever go to and hunt for it on ftc.gov. Not consumer friendly.