Privacy

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Scary AT&T breach leaks up to 70 million Social Security numbers to the dark web (www.macworld.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

88 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13810367

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago (3 children)

The SSA should just set a time limit, (let’s say 3 years,) and then publish a database of every single name, DOB, and SSN. Force the banks to figure out a new system of identification, by making the current system useless.

The current system is already insecure; SSNs were never intended to be secure. So why has the SSA tolerated this for so long? Just make the “in three years we’ll publish this live database for anyone to search” announcement, so banks are forced to develop a better system. It gives them the time to work on a new system, eliminates the need to keep SSNs secret, and the SSA can keep operating as normal.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

This is one of those ideas I'd love to agree with, but I know the reality of the situation would mean negative consequences for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, just like how current ID systems are now.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Really the US needs federal ID that are free and accessible through all post offices. The use of birth certificates and SSNs for the private sector is a failure of the federal government.

Identification for some reason is a cobbled-together mess of systems never designed for identification.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Granted: needs an implanted microchip connected via Bluetooth to a phone app to work properly.