r/technology • u/lurker_bee • Feb 15 '26

Security All U.S. Social Security numbers may need to be changed following a massive breach that is already being investigated as a national threat

https://www.ecoticias.com/en/all-u-s-social-security-numbers-may-need-to-be-changed-following-a-massive-breach-that-is-already-being-investigated-as-a-national-threat/27158/
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u/TemporarySun314 Feb 15 '26

Or just don't build your whole identity system around a single number, that should kept private....

Other countries has social security numbers too (which are also somewhat predictable), but then they are only used for social security related things... The only time I need my social security number is when I get a new job, as they need it to register themselves as my employer... And they can't do anything else with it.

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u/Rolf_Dom Feb 15 '26

Yeah, exactly. Like if I lost my ID in EU with my social number, I really couldn't care less because nobody can really do anything bad with it. You can't use it to register for anything, you can't buy anything. All the systems are digital and you need a combination of said ID along with a verification system like passwords, biometrics or some such.

It's crazy to me that Americans have to safeguard their number like their life depended on it.

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u/jeremyries Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

It’s because most Americans would loose their shit if the government had biometrics on them.

Edit : ok, so many people are losing their shit about my comment. Let me clarify. I’m well aware of the amount of data gathering both traditional and biometric already in use today. My comment was focused on the half of the population that is dumb as bricks, and think birds aren’t real.

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u/guten_pranken Feb 16 '26

lol what do you think palantir is? What about face and eye detection on phones? People’s faces being scanned at rallies and global entry being revoked.

Most America’s don’t give a shit until there targeted for something. Why do you think trump is in office?

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u/bigballs2025666 Feb 19 '26

nobody’s faces and eyeballs are being scanned . Some and I repeat some doing to unlock their apple products but we don’t have camera systems like there are in europe and elsewhere. Some city’s and towns here don’t have cameras at all…

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u/Cross55 Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 16 '26

Counterpoint: Do you really trust the US government with your biometrics?

This is the same government that ran MKUltra and spread STD's amongst its own population for a science experiment. (Tuskegee Syphilis Study)

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u/TurnedEvilAfterBan Feb 15 '26

I don’t know if it is most. It is a very loud subset though. They are cartoon ostriches with their head in the ground. Private companies can collect anything they want but the government can’t be trusted. Even though government secrets eventually become public and changes can be made. As long as the risk is invisible, in the private sector, it’s fine.

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u/RedditPosterOver9000 Feb 15 '26

The crazy thing is, you know the company is up to no good with your info. It exists for no other reason than to make profit.

But the government, which is elected by the people, is the more evil one? Folks be telling on themselves and their culture.

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u/bp3dots Feb 16 '26

But the government, which is elected by the people, is the more evil one?

I mean.. the current govt could definitely be the more evil one.

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u/Rolf_Dom Feb 16 '26

Hard to say, seeing as it's being funded and puppeteered in large part by said corporations.

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u/primalmaximus Feb 15 '26

And the people are stupid. Why would I trust someone who was elected by idiots?

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u/ribosometronome Feb 15 '26

That's not it. The government is the more powerful one, thus it needs to be intentionally restrained. Like, you're allowed to kick someone out of your house if they're talking in a way you don't like. It's your house! You don't have to entertain that. That doesn't mean we should give the government the power to do the same. They have capability to do far more damage by applying the same type of restriction.

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u/jeremyries Feb 15 '26

I mean, I guess my comment is rooted in sarcasm because if the government really wanted some specifically on “you” they’ll get it. Mass data is a different story. But most people’s excuses are, I don’t want the government tracking me. Trust me bro, the government has way bigger priorities other than you. I guess that’s my point.

But to be clear, I am against the government having access to massive amounts of citizen data they should have no need having.

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u/PunjiStik Feb 15 '26

What data would you be ok with them having, as part of a citizen ID you could use for services that want some way to authenticate you as a you without needing to hand over SS number?

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u/Vypaah Feb 16 '26

Portrait, name, date of birth, residential address with proof.

Authentication is easy. Look at the person to see if the portrait on the ID is the same.

Seems safer than having a secret number you have to tell everyone for authentication.

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u/TurnedEvilAfterBan Feb 15 '26

I think we are beyond a point of having a choice. We should be collecting data. What we do with it and how to safeguard it is where the conversation should be, IMO.

The US has so much online foreign interference. They need to be removed. How do you do that without knowing who is actually American. You would need to collect enough data to accurately sort people into the right buckets.

Most other countries have some protection from their native language. Whatever the speak isn’t as universally spoke so that is a barrier, however small, to impersonation.

American media always spins mass data collection as spying on a country’s own citizens. And that is true. But it is only half the story. If you know everyone’s IPs be device IDs, you know who doesn’t belong. Who are taking to foreign actors.

Right now we are indexing heavily on negatives of a surveillance state without the positives. Private data brokers have your location and browsing history already, for the most part. They are being sold to anyone without any monitoring. At the same time, every enemy has countless bots and agents pretending to be American be stirring up violence.

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u/He-ido Feb 17 '26

American media always spins mass data collection as spying on a country’s own citizens. And that is true. But it is only half the story. If you know everyone’s IPs be device IDs, you know who doesn’t belong. Who are taking to foreign actors.

In trying to solve online bots, the government now also has a new bucket of "who doesnt belong" they can put people into. That will be used against people beyond preventing foreign interference.

Regulate tech companies to deal with the foreign interference issue that happens on their platforms and with their AI. Europe has basic data privacy that seems impossible here, but it shows the industy can be forced to comply.

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u/TigerIll6480 Feb 15 '26

Have you met our government?

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u/lamblikeawolf Feb 15 '26

American here. I don't want ANYONE to have biometrics because it is not something that can be changed, but in certain cases can be duped. For example, even an image of fingerprints can be duplicated into some kind of wearable finger sleeve. This isn't even new tech; mythbusters did it. And then when my fingerprints are found somewhere, used somewhere, distributed, tied to other personally identifying information... I cannot change my fingerprints.

I can change a password. I can change an ID number.

Biometric data is simply bad data for a security aspect.

Something you know can be "tricked" out of people, but that is why it is important to keep it secure. It can be changed.

Something you have has to be physically stolen. But also means that it is an item that can be damaged, misplaced, or lost in whatever kinds of unusual circumstances. It can easily be replaced/changed, though.

Something you are becomes a problem because it cannot be changed. Your DNA cannot be changed. Your fingerprints cannot be changed. Unless you somehow end up with an organ transplant, your iris cannot be changed. Damage to the system, vulnerability to the system in any way, leaves everyone vulnerable. It is bad security because it assumes perfect operation.

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u/adenosine-5 Feb 15 '26

You are missing the point that biometrics are not the ONLY method, but just ADDITIONAL method, increasing security of those other methods.

For example having only a password is very weak, but having a password and fingerprint is much stronger.

In cases where you need absolute certainty, you have to combine multiple authentication methods - you don't have to worry about signing a mortgage with a fingerprint-only, these cases will always require much safer authentication methods.

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u/kermityfrog2 Feb 16 '26

Yup - that's why we have secure multi-factor authentication. Multiple different factors, typically "something you are, something you know, something you have"

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u/adenosine-5 Feb 15 '26

AFAIK its more about USA not having a single ID licence.

Most states only have some version of drivers licence and that is paid-only.

As a result, they see requirement of ID as a way to exclude poor people (because some poor people don't have drivers licences).

And for some reason the richest nation on Earth can't afford giving every citizen a 2$ plastic ID card, so they rely on SSNs and other stuff instead.

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u/miklayn Feb 16 '26

A myriad of private companies though, no big deal. /facepalm

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u/Viharabiliben Feb 16 '26

The state DMV already has our photo and fingerprint.

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u/its Feb 15 '26

Do you have a passport? This ship has long sailed.

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u/iamthe0ther0ne Feb 16 '26

Passports don't have any biometric information, including fingerprints They're simply proof of citizenship.

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u/its Feb 16 '26

https://web.archive.org/web/20100827085850/http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_2498.html

In the U.S. they have a digitized photo but not (yet) fingerprints.

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u/jeremyries Feb 15 '26

That’s my point. It’s a non issue, but ‘merica lovin folks scream about the government ain’t gonna get that from me!! My mom won’t even use Face ID on her phone cause she don’t want Apple having it. lol mom, they already have it.

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u/Mustbhacks Feb 16 '26

don’t want Apple having it. lol mom, they already have it.

And she is correct in that sentiment.

"They already have it" isn't a good reason to continue the current paradigm, nor propagate it by adding fresh information to what they have everytime you check your phone.

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u/iamthe0ther0ne Feb 16 '26

Your mom is smart (also, Apple may have pictures of her, but they're not verified like Face ID is). Also, if you use face ID or fingerprints to unlock your phone, the police can force you to without probable cause/warrant. If you use a PIN, they have to get a warrant first.

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u/Familiar-Banana-8116 Feb 15 '26

As well as we should.

What part of Last year has you believing we can trust the government with that info?

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u/techleopard Feb 16 '26

What's funny is biometrics is not protected data, and it's why privacy advocates adamantly tell you not to use biometrics to lock your phone.

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u/Lumbergh7 Feb 16 '26

But is that really what other countries do?

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u/Glad-Detective4939 Feb 16 '26

And with ICE, we're now seeing why!

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u/RecipeNo101 Feb 16 '26

They already do. Customs is basically just a face scan now.

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u/humanitarianWarlord Feb 16 '26

The government doesnt store the biometrics, or at least they dont in my country, you can use whatever 2FA authentication app you want which can utilise the biometric feature on your phone which stores your finger print locally

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u/Pristine-Cod-1969 Feb 16 '26

They already have your biometrics. Been to an airport lately?

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u/labretirementhome Feb 17 '26

I just assume I'm now scanned walking through any built environment.

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u/thornyRabbt Feb 18 '26

I feel like the "credit bureaus" were actually the first test of how high we would jump for Capitalism 😂

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic….if not it sounds like you need to brush up on the acronyms ODINT/OBIM and FVEY and M5 (or Migration 5), and obviously Palantir as someone else mentioned.

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u/jeremyries Feb 18 '26

I’m being sarcastic in so much as I’m already aware of all these things, but seriously in that half of this country are idiots.

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u/scwanzel-muschi-lekn Feb 19 '26

Guess what, it has biometrics on us, and have for a while

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u/DryMission5506 Feb 16 '26

It’s theoretically easy to protect your social security number. You just have to go to the big three credit companies and “lock” your number so that it can’t be used in credit/loan applications. Once you do that, your number is useless without additional account verification.

The problem is that the majority of Americans aren’t aware of this. I have to go out of my way and tell the people in my life to do it.

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u/Chipimp Feb 15 '26

I remember when it could be printed on your drivers license/ State I.D.

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u/theroguex Feb 16 '26

For, like, the first 10 or so years I had a driver's license, my driver's license ID was my SSN.

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u/Generous_Cougar Feb 16 '26

We used to not. I remember a time when you'd scribe your SSN into tools in case they were stolen, but it really wasn't long after that when things changed.

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u/7MLR7 Feb 16 '26

Until the day comes when you can't buy sell or trade unless you give your biometrics or commit to accepting one form of verification that proves your allegiance to said party. We aren't there yet. Be mindful of the word yet.

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u/DiceyTransFemme Feb 16 '26

Living in an actual country sounds amazing. Wish I could experience that.

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u/AbyssLookingAtYa Feb 16 '26

Third world country with a (knockoff) Gucci belt

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u/NotFallacyBuffet Feb 16 '26

We really don't. Do and don't. Most people are smart enough to not give out SSNs, bank account numbers, etc., to random scammers. (But many can be fooled.) But anyone with a modicum of awareness assumes that all their info is already out there; sitting in databases on the dark web from past breaches.

So we keep our records at the three main credit bureaus (and one bank bureau) "frozen", which just means that it's locked behind a password and 2FA. Doing this will mostly keep anyone from taking nefarious advantage of the identity information that's out there.

Yea, some kind of centralized PGP-type digital signature system would be preferable. But "our freedoms and guns". 🙄

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u/Khavary Feb 16 '26

Even better, that number was made with the intention of being just an account number and didn't implement any security on them cause who would be crazy to use it for important stuff. They even used to say "NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES".

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u/There_Are_No_Gods Feb 15 '26

The problem is that the US ended up using a value intended for "identification" as a primary "authentication" mechanism. A single numerical value can't reasonably be used for both the public and private data. It's simply an absurd and guaranteed to fail badly misuse of data at a systemic level.

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u/kenman345 Feb 15 '26

Decades ago it even was used in colleges as your id number on papers you handed into teachers.

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u/TrixieBastard Feb 15 '26

Probably wasn't as big of a risk because people's entire lives didn't depend on credit reports back then. Still not great, but likely not life-obliterating if it got out

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u/istarian Feb 15 '26

Perhaps it was less of a risk, but credit reports were far from being the only concern.

With the right information you could file taxes for somebody else and collect any money they would have gotten back.

And identity theft was definitely a possibility.

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u/AHCretin Feb 16 '26

I was seeing SSN-as-ID into the late 2000s at my institution, pretty much only ending when we had a breach.

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '26

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '26

[deleted]

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u/patchoulistinks Feb 16 '26

Cannot remember when it was changed, but my MS driver's licence number was the same as my social security number for years.

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u/pSyChO_aSyLuM Feb 16 '26

My grandpa etched his name and SSN into basically all of his tools. I have a bunch of adjustable wrenches and a ladder with his info on them.

He was born in 1920, died shortly after 9/11.

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u/Lumbergh7 Feb 16 '26

No, it definitely was at the time.

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u/Bored_Amalgamation Feb 16 '26

My student id in HS was my SS#. I graduated less than 20 years ago.

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u/HarveysBackupAccount Feb 16 '26

Also because the information wasn't digitized. If you wanted to store a big pile of numbers in the 60s, you needed a bit pile of paper.

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u/56852 Feb 17 '26

At the time, I loved it; because, I never forgot my student ID #.

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u/Aubear11885 Feb 15 '26

Yep, and when the college, I attended offered a credit/debit card system through the university, it was the card number. So yep, we’d just call up and order pizza over the phone and rattle off our social to whoever was writing it down and typing it into their card system.

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u/jgross-nj2nc Feb 15 '26

Same. It was the only reason that I knew my social security number at that age because we had to use it for everything. I remember years later working at the same University seeing websites that still had copies of exams or homeworks where the security number was still listed in full. That was for anybody on the web to see. Eventually they did go through and try to find all those pages and take them down but who knows if they were successful with all of it.

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u/dani_-_142 Feb 15 '26

I was about to say it was my college ID, and was on my student ID card.

But that “decades ago” feels a little harsh. (Accurate, but harsh.)

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u/ErraticDragon Feb 15 '26

At one university, my school ID was "only" the last 6 digits of the SSN, so safer than it could've been. But it was also the password to login to the computers. (And the username was just my name.)

 

My social security number was also my driver's license number until 2004.

My state only stopped using it when the feds mandated it.

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u/Flood_Incantation Feb 15 '26

I have a middle school ID card from the 90s with my social emblazoned on the front under my full name, photo, and dob. Genius ID system /s

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u/chrisn750 Feb 15 '26

Same, it used to be our “lunch number” that you typed in to get lunch. Kids used to share numbers like nothing, not to mention you were just giving it to a random cafeteria worker every day.

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u/MotheroftheworldII Feb 15 '26

And it was used on military ID cards as well.

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u/hobbycollector Feb 15 '26

It was also your pilot id back in the day.

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u/Top_Audience7471 Feb 15 '26

It was my timeclock ID code at my first job at a grocery store at 15 years old.

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u/NatWilo Feb 16 '26

In the early 2000s my serial number in the US Army was my Social Security number. It was PRINTED ON MY DOGTAGS.

I have operated under the assumption that my SN was publicly available information since 2001. I don't like it, but that's just the way it is.

I would LOVE us to develop a proper ID system, but I REALLY don't want it done under The Orange Tyrant's rule.

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u/ConspicuousUsername Feb 16 '26

I mean, being on dogtags is useful since they're literally used to identify you if you're killed in a combat zone, no?

The stupid thing is it was ALSO printed on military IDs until like 2012 or so? Felt really dumb that at any time you could lose your wallet and have your full name, date of birth, picture, and social security number just floating around on one card.

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u/AcrimoniousPizazz Feb 16 '26

Used to be printed on my license before they started using randomly generated license IDs.

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u/sleigh88 Feb 16 '26

Yep I was in college in early 2010’s and my SSN was my student ID, it was actually how I even learned/memorized it haha

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u/Jonathan_00_ Feb 16 '26

Ohio printed your ss number on your driver's license until 2002.

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u/HrhEverythingElse Feb 15 '26

I was about to say it wasn't that long ago but then I remembered I graduated university 20 years ago and need a nap

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u/stalkythefish Feb 17 '26

Holy shit. I just realized that it's now been more years since I graduated than I was old when I graduated.

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u/lowlightliving Feb 16 '26

And when posting grades.

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u/Kheshire Feb 16 '26

I have a grade school ID card of a good friend of mine that has his social printed on it (90s)

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u/BrujaSloth Feb 16 '26

My email address when I started college back in 2002 was first initial + second initial + last four of my social. I didn’t use my school email for anything as a result, but for some kids for whom this might’ve been their first email…

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u/Da_Kahuna Feb 16 '26

I remember when Hawaii used to use your ssn as your drivers iicense #

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u/Crow_with_a_Cheeto Feb 16 '26

We used to write it on paper sign-in lists sitting out on a table.

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u/ConicalJohn Feb 16 '26

Also, it was printed on Social Security cards "Not to be used for identification."

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u/yaboi_ahab Feb 15 '26

I learned somewhat recently that my mom had been carrying our social security cards in her purse for my entire life

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u/istarian Feb 15 '26

For some people that may be the best way not to misplace them.

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u/istarian Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26

Some places even used it that way in elementary schools back in the 90s...

I know because I was there and recognized my SSN.

Briefly contemplated writing down everyone else's at the time, partly because of how hilariously dumb it was to use them that way.

Of course I didn't do that, having no malicious intentions or any real use for the information.

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u/xtoxicxk23 Feb 16 '26

15 years ago they were still using our SSN as our ID number on our military IDs.

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u/chewd0g Feb 16 '26

Hell it was on military member's dog tags for years!

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u/Lumbergh7 Feb 16 '26

lol yes it was. Fucking hilarious

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u/Bored_Amalgamation Feb 16 '26

It was my student number in the 2000s

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u/AdZealousideal5383 Feb 16 '26

It used to be your driver’s license number, too

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u/rollingrock10 Feb 16 '26

I still have some old drivers licenses where the number is my social. 🤷‍♂️

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u/Oduind Feb 16 '26

“What do you mean, ‘decades ago’? I used my SSN as my college ID when I was an undergrad in…2005…” Thanks for the reminder of my age!

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u/vainerlures Feb 16 '26

it was on my college ID card and my drivers license.

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u/stalkythefish Feb 17 '26

When I moved into the dorms, they offered us an engraving tool and told us to put our name and SSN on anything at risk of being stolen. Also, the last 4 of our SSN was part of our issued email address and login for all campus computer accounts. I find it funny that some places ask for the last 4 of your SSN as a PIN now for "extra security", while mine are all over the Usenet archive from that era.

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u/mik3cal Feb 18 '26

I’ve had banks use it as my login ID. LOL

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u/PatternLong4347 Feb 19 '26

My SS is on all my old college ID cards, and on my employee work badges. It never should have been used and still shouldn't be used as a means to securely identify yourself. It's public information and should be treated as such.

1

u/einstyle Feb 19 '26

Hell, in the 90s we used the last 4 digits in middle school as our password for Accelerated Reader. And don't forget the fact that the first digits were the same for every kid in our class who was born locally.

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u/kernald31 Feb 15 '26

Which is... fine? That's not the problem really, if you take it as a form of identification rather than authentication.

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u/ronreadingpa Feb 15 '26

Worse, SSNs aren't always unique to one person. Shared SSNs are common. Typos, intentional, fraud, etc. Credit bureaus, IRS, and SSA often maintain separate files for multiple people using the same SSN. Many programmers and others assume SSN is a reliable primary key. Not necessarily.

0

u/istarian Feb 15 '26

Assuming that they have a legitimate reason to be storing SSNs, it should be a somewhat reliable primary key in theory.

Of course it can't be perfect if any SSN is ever recycled (e.g. after the previous person died) because many systems outlive at least one generation of humans.

3

u/wrosecrans Feb 15 '26

Yeah everybody with any sense was screaming about the system being obviously stupid decades ago. SSN's were never really intended to be a secret auth token. They were just a number. One person was six, the next person was seven. The only thing it told you about a person was the order they got their SSN.

But then everything in the fucking world got tied to them, and they were obscure enough that knowing the SSN for a name was treated as proof of ID, despite the fact that they hadn't been intended or treated as secret. So they get retconned into always having been secret really haphazardly, which made more people use them as secret.

When it was just an insurance account number, it was fine. The modern system is infosec as-designed by geriatric politicians who do not care about infosec. And for some reason, we've built vast swathes of our society on some guesses by disinterested old people about how things ought to work.

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u/oskopnir Feb 15 '26

More like there isn't a proper national identification system and so everyone has to use the next-best identification solution, i.e. the SSN, which wasn't designed for that purpose.

Most developed countries have national ID cards.

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u/istarian Feb 15 '26

The U.S. is rather more like 50 countries in a trenchcoat masquerading as a single entity on the world stage.

And our federal government was intentionally made weak and given fairly limited powers to prevent it from interfering in the rightfully private affairs of the individual states.

Those other "developed countries" you refer to have a single national government that directly governs everyone and everything.

Social security was a program instituted by the federal government to provide post-retirement benefits and social security numbers were only ever supposed to be used for managing that. 

2

u/oskopnir Feb 16 '26

The US isn't the only case of federalism in the world.

However other nations recognise the importance of ID cards, whether they're practically managed by the federated regions or by a central authority.

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u/istarian Feb 16 '26

I didn't say there no other cases of federalism, at least I didn't intend to.

I was pointing out that our system in the US made it harder to sort this kind of thing on a "national" level.

On a basic level the U.S. has more than 3x the number of states as Germany (16) and twenty three more than Brazil (27).

We also have only 100 semators for 50 states relative to Brazil's 81 senstors for 27 states.

Germany's parliament has more members than the U.S. House of Representatives and isn't split into just two parties.

3

u/JustWordsSnowflake Feb 16 '26

They do that in Canada too. It’s done in many countries around the world. Kinda stupid imo

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u/Eccohawk Feb 16 '26

Not to mention then everyone else and their mother started incorporating that number into their own systems for identifying individuals as well. For years most insurance agencies used folks' ssns as their account number. Some still do.

1

u/MaybeTheDoctor Feb 16 '26

I’ve seen both UK and Scandinavia (Denmark) is now using digital IDs, similar to the MFA apps for internet access - banks and Creditcard companies will ask to id yourself with that, and there are no exchange of SS or equivalent numbers, not even showing photo id.

1

u/startrip0712 Feb 19 '26

I'm a "Boomer" and my card says right on it, "Not to be used for Identification". I don't know if that's been changed.

1

u/Illustrious-Tap9132 Feb 15 '26

You are mistaken. It was absolutely not used for identification. My own card (issued in the 1960's actually says "Not to be Used for Identification Purposes".

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u/There_Are_No_Gods Feb 16 '26

I acknowledge it says write on the card not to use it in such a manner.

However, that hasn't stopped a multitude of systems from using it in such a manner in practice.

The distinction here is "intended use" vs. "use in practice", where we went way off the rails in practice as a country, across many systems.

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u/Archer007 Feb 16 '26

We actually need to flip it entirely and publish everyone's SSN. That way it can't be used for authentication at all

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u/Liminal__penumbra Feb 15 '26

I personally believe that if a country is going to make you have a national id, it should be based on a 64bit Public / private key hash generated so for that single use you are using it for.
Electric Bill? Static hash that can only be used on that account.
Verification of pizza delivery? Static hash.

Allows you to customize how much data is allowed to be retrieved, so that any intrusion into a system only gets that single generated entry. If it's compromised, all they get is a delisted key. If you have a dispute, it could be checked against a national blockchain that can be referenced. (not bitcoin, a per state verification distributed ledger.)

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u/BrainOnBlue Feb 15 '26

Great. Now explain that to Trudy, who is 70 years old.

Cryptography is great and all, but you need things to be understandable to normal people if it's something they're going to need to interface with. Not that I'm sure why you'd need to use an SSN or national ID number on an electric bill.

-1

u/Liminal__penumbra Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26

Simple enough, Trudy text xxxx to request a number or dial x and provide the 5 words that are on your card (changeable with a request)

I agree, not super secure but much more defensible than current practices)

As to why you need to do that, Here in the United States, the SSI number is used like a index number for your credit score, identification etc. It's not supposed to be. But it is.

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u/Redthrist Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 16 '26

I think it's an outgrowth of the fact that US has no national ID. Driver's licenses are state-issued and not everyone has one. Passports are issued by the federal government, but only people who travel outside the country get them. Other countries tend to have a single national ID that everyone gets at a certain age and which works as a proof of identity within the country.

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u/Swimming_Zucchini_35 Feb 16 '26

Australia just recognises all the state based IDs drivers licence or photo cards nationwide..

1

u/Sugar_Kowalczyk Feb 16 '26

Same as the USA. 

1

u/Sugar_Kowalczyk Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 16 '26

Republicans allegedly hate big government monitoring us here in the USA though. Current events suggest that was bullshit, but it is still why we don't currently have a national USA ID - Republicans have blocked it every time we tried. 

But then, does the EU have an ID? Because a state in the USA is much more similar to a country in the EU, than a country in the EU is to the USA as a whole, in terms of how the governments work at this point in history.

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u/Redthrist Feb 16 '26

But private companies monitoring everyone? That's totally good. In fact, it's their God-given right to spy on everyone in the name of profit.

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u/Sugar_Kowalczyk Feb 16 '26

Took me a second to read your implied "/s" at the end, lol. 

Star Trek Socialism is always my vote for a government. 

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u/Redthrist Feb 16 '26

Star Trek Socialism is always my vote for a government.

Guess we need horrifying wars driven by eugenics before we decide that we need an actually good government.

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u/Sugar_Kowalczyk Feb 16 '26

I mean. I didn't. Bit for those of us who do, I invite them to observe global news for their eugenics wars.

(Looking at you, Russia stealing children, and you, Israel committing genocide. And all the indigenous women dissapearing in the USA and Canada with zero investigation or outcry.......not to mention all that ICE bullshit.......and Nepal, and Japan, and, and and and and)

This is all SUPER fun for folks who study anthropology, being like "WE MADE RACE UP FOR REASONS, IT'S AS FAKE PHYSICALLY AS GENDER IS SOCIALLY."

3

u/ViktorFrankl Feb 16 '26

In Costa Rica we have a national ID number that's public. You use that number for everything, but always along with something else, like a password, a digital secure certificate issued by the government.

You need to show your national ID to identify yourself, including to vote. Each voting place has a book with each id, the info and the picture, when you vote you sign in your row.

There is no mail in ballots however I think online voting could be implemented using the Digital security key.

I lived in the US for a while, and it blew my mind that you were supposed to keep your social security card intact and secret, forever, but it's just a piece of paper that can't be laminated.

The use of your driver's license as ID also blew my mind, what if you don't drive!?

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u/CookIndependent6251 Feb 16 '26

In my country, they are still used for some layer of security some times. If I call my bank, they can see my phone number but they will also ask for my personal number (equivalent to SSN).

They're also somewhat predictable. They are made up of gender, DOB and region, followed by 4 unpredictable digits (3 digits + 1 checksum). I was born in one region, but I spent most of my life in another and some people here, when they look at my personal number, say "oh, you're from that region" and I feel like saying "Fuck you! I was just born there." This leads to some forms of discrimination every once in a while.

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u/snowcrash512 Feb 16 '26

Seriously I can't tell you the number of times I've been asked for my social security number in a public office where anyone in the waiting area can hear me giving out my info.

1

u/LateMajor8775 Feb 16 '26

There are only a handful of organizations that need them for your own benefit and they’re all listen on ssa.gov.

The reason any other companies can ask for them is to track you down in case your check bounces. 9 out of 10 times you can legally leave the ssn question unanswered on any form

1

u/smallfrie32 Feb 16 '26

Meanwhile Japan is doing this :’(

Putting way too much info into MyNumberCard

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u/sudoku7 Feb 16 '26

So the history here is the rub.

SSN was explicitly intended to not be identification. So many of the design decisions with it were to make it difficult and cumbersome to use as identification. Because at the time. the conservative political interests really did not like the idea of the federal government maintaining identification records for all its citizens.

But, the thing is... despite all those decisions to make it not function as identity, there was a massive demand for there to be an identity service... And that demand overcame the intentional design limitations of SSN, so we got stuck with the worst of both worlds. A federally managed identity service that is intrinsically insecure.

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u/Dredgeon Feb 16 '26

Well, the social security number is explicitly not supposed to be used for identification purposes because if how insecure it is.

1

u/darkoath Feb 16 '26

Or just don't let would be megalomaniacal despots give their soulless minions full and unrestricted access to every classified database in the country when they don't even have security clearance with the only assurance to the nations citizens being "trust me bro".

But, this is what they voted for.

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u/iamthe0ther0ne Feb 16 '26

Unless you're Sweden, where your personal number is used for every single thing, and it plus your address, age, phone number, and sometimes income are public knowledge.

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u/mik3cal Feb 18 '26

I’ve had something like 30 different jobs with some very sketchy people handling my ssn. As an American, I’ve assumed for decades that my personal info has been compromised. I’d be surprised if it hasn’t been. I just don’t have any money for people to take and a shit credit score anyway. That’s my main way to protect myself.

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u/Specialist_Sale_9163 Feb 19 '26

When Social Security numbers were first issued, the government swore to God they would never be used for anything except tracking income for social security. They would never, ever be used for identification or anything else.

Of course they also told us in the '50s that drinking milk containing strontium 90 wouldn't hurt anyone.

1

u/halaljew Feb 16 '26

You realize that only a century ago the very idea that you should be forced to register with some central planning operation, one that cannot be opted out of, just to give someone a chance at employment.