Stardate 20011011.1635 (On Screen): I've been watching for years as the Social Security Number (i.e. taxpayer identification number) has become an ubiquitous personal identification number for nearly every kind of database. It's not the result of any kind of conspiracy; it's just that it was such a convenient number for health plans and insurance companies and banks and nearly every one else to use for database access keys. Everyone has one and no-one has two and everyone knows their own number. Even some states use them for driver's license numbers.
The problem with that is that it makes it much, much too easy to cross-reference all those databases with each other. The threat to privacy is obvious, and where it's been showing up the most lately is in identity theft. So it's good to see that the State of California has outlawed the use of the SSN for most of those purposes. Health Plans will no longer be able to use the SSN, banks will no longer be able to print the SSN on bank statements, and credit reporting bureaus won't be permitted to key on the SSN. It's about damned time. This doesn't apply to the rest of the US, but since California has over 15% of the population of the nation, a change like this will inevitably affect everyone else -- and once the new systems are in place to serve California it will that much easier for other states to pass similar laws. (However, expect lawsuits trying to overturn this law.) (discussion in progress)
