On 4/4/06, Peter Kurilecz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
On 4/4/06, Diane C. Russell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
  Many officials argure that they are preventing identity theft and
> terrorism, but what they are really doing is making it harder to identify
> fraudulent uses of SSNs, making it harder to study our history and culture,
> and helping the terrorists achieve their objective of destroying our culture
> and open society.

I would love to see some exact examples of what you are citing. The
SSN is a keystone item in creating an identity. At the moment there is
no way a business or individual can identify if a proffered SSN is
legitimate or not.

If the SSN is listed in one of the onliine Social Security death indexes, whether it be a derivative of the Social Security Death Master File, or a  state death index, it is a pretty good bet that any use of that number to identify a living person is fraudulent.

I don't see how redacting or restricting the use of SSN is destroying
our culture and our society.

The SSNs for deceased persons are necessary for submitting FOIA requests to Social Security and can be especially valuable in connecting deceased individuals with their parents, as well as providingclues to their previous residence or work locations.  This becomes more important as more and more states close access to vital records.  Closing off this kind of access to records used for identifying deceased individuals makes it harder to study history, biography, and genealogy, and certainly does nothing to enhance our understanding of our culture and its history.

--
Peter Kurilecz CRM CA
Richmond, Va

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