Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

social insecurity

If your wallet is stolen, you stand a chance of being a victim not only of credit card and bank fraud, but of identity theft as well. States are now (thankfully) moving away from using people’s Social Security numbers on their drivers’ licenses and state ID cards. However, as a recent article in Business Week points out, drivers’ licenses and ID cards aren’t the only cards in your wallet likely to carry your Social Security number. Health insurance and prescription cards are frequent culprits as well. (“Why Your ID Is Such Easy Picking” - 08/14/03)

The incident prompted me, as well as my friends and colleagues, to open our wallets. Each of us found at least one piece of ID, and sometimes as many as three, with our Social Security numbers printed in plain sight. Health-insurance and prescription-drug cards were the worst offenders. Mandates that we carry these cards are the equivalent of forcing us to walk around with thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry.

No wonder ID theft is climbing to dizzying heights. According to a July 30 survey conducted by nonprofit Privacy & American Business, 13 million Americans have fallen victim to identity theft since January, 2001. Total out-of-pocket expenses came to $1.5 billion, or $740 per person. Of those surveyed, 16% said the cause was a lost or stolen wallet. That means if Social Security numbers weren’t printed on wallet cards, at least 2.1 million Americans might have been saved the anxiety and aggravation of ID theft.

Maybe the rest of the country can follow (in this instance) the example of California, where, effective January 1, 2004, corporations can no longer use individuals’ Social Security numbers on ID cards and correspondence, and any electronic transmission of Social Security numbers must be encrypted. The Business Week article points out that some companies (it doesn’t say which) are overhauling their systems for all states in order to bring themselves into compliance for California. In this case, since the SSN is a federally-issued identifying number, I think federal legislation regarding the use of Social Security numbers for anything other than tax/payroll/entitlement purposes is in order.