363
I have so much "free credit monitoring" from data breaches, I could leave it to my grandkids and they'd be set for life.
this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2024
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Privacy
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I have been informed my SSN, DOB, and payment information have been "compromised" at least 50 times in my life.
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Everyone's data is now public knowledge
Why exactly did a telecom company need SSNs anyway?
Edited to add, this was a rhetorical question and more a comment on the awful series of systems in the USA that leads a SSN to be used by telecom companies.
Most people get suckered into signing a contract and using a "postpaid" plan, where you get the service for a month and then pay for it. That requires a credit check and credit reporting, since you get the service before payment. You don't have to give out your SSN if you sign up for "prepaid" cell phone plans, which offer less discounts and benefits but are generally cheaper for the service they provide. The only catch is you pay for the month before you use it, but this makes canceling as easy as stopping payment.
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Credit checks.
Nowadays they offer financing for devices. But even in the past it was required. They would determine the maximum number of lines you had available, and if there were any deposits to open new lines of service. Even before phone financing, those phone contracts came with hundreds of dollars of phone discounts at time of purchase and had hundreds of dollars worth of early termination fees and they want to make sure their customers had a good chance of paying if they left.
Antifraud
I think it's related maybe to some anti terrorism law? In certain EU countries for example it's impossible to get an anonymous SIM due to some anti terrorism legislation. SSNs are the only legal identification I guess?
This is a random guess off the top of my head. IANAL or know anything specific on US law.
What's IANAL? Is it some new Apple product I don't know about yet?
SSN isn't supposed to be used as a form of ID. Even says so on an SS card.
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It's almost like the gov should replace the SSN system with something that addresses modern security concerns.
It baffles the mind the the USA doesn't have a plain old photo ID
There is, just on a state level which does nothing for a nation with 50 of the fuckers
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Social Security Numbers were never meant to be used for anything other than Social Security itself. Credit agencies use the SSN because they view it as an easy identifier and they didn't have to create anything themselves.
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Like fingerprints
Oh wait...
But then I can't google my number when I forget.
Will there be consequences??
SSNs are not secure and were never intended to be used that way. Just because companies misuse it for security to cut costs and apply credit ratings we never voted for doesn't mean we should necessarily punish someone for leaking that data that is already like 99% public data because of all the previous leaks. It would be better if everyone treated it as public data and not some secret identity key. They should be punished for poor security and fix their shit, but SSNs are not private, not intended to be used for identity, and not secure.
and this is why i refused to give you my social back when i lived in your service area and had a land line installed.
Tried to delete my shit from their website, but they make it impossible to do so. I tried for about 20 minutes then eventually the site straight up refused to let me continue. I don't even have AT&T anymore, I had their cellular back in 2013 and left them then, but the fuckers kept my info in their system this whole fucking time. No accountability for big corporations when they fuck up big like this. If it were one of us peasants, we would have been in prison for life.
I think the problem is there isn't any law protecting your data
And that's a huge problem. Only form of protection I have is freezing my credit with the three credit reporting assholes. I know it's not much, but at least no one can apply for shit with my social.
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Fight Club had it backwards. Instead of attacking the banks to wipe out people’s credit someone should release everyone’s SSN. The mass fraud will make credit useless.
This is brilliant. The government could put out a searchable database.
Let's evolve, let the chips fall where they may.
Is there any way we could do some sort of certificate based authentication? Instead of a social security number. I know people get really dodgy whenever you talk about ways to identify them but there has to be a better way than this.
Identity fraud can ruin your life permanently and at this point I'm pretty sure more people have been compromised than haven't.
World coin!
(Not really world coin is a terrible idea)
Mine is 075-21-9556 in case anyone wants it.
Can't believe ours are 2 numbers apart!
Hey, wait a minute! That one's mine, too!
I have your IP and your SSN
Hands up
Glad that you guys think that you're so bold but why don't you post this in hacker forums instead?
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