A National ID Card

[bluebomber]

Originally posted by Scopulus Argentarius


Point1... Yes there already is a unique identifier (sort of) - usually a SSN. Sometimes they use a UID of their own making. A SSN is unique to every living 'registered' American Citizen; it is supposedly recycled to the living from the dead. It is 'voluntary'. It should not be used to concatinate information, but was a convenient choice for many of these companies (and government organizations) that collect the information. And Yes, people have been defrauded because of the commity of the SSN's use. The act of defrauding occured by criminal individuals or groups. There are laws that attempt to prevent large companies from abusing that information. Sometime organizations choose to violate these laws anyway and they do get hammered for it.

I'm not sure what you mean by "UID of their own making", but you are right in that it is supposedly voluntary. Most people, however, do not get that choice: their parents register them for a SSN without their consent (not that you can consent when you're a minor).

One nit: SSNs are not recycled from the dead to the living: http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/...=000411-000062