Posted on 07/06/2009 6:19:49 PM PDT by Salena Zito
Using just a person's birth date and birth state, two Carnegie Mellon University researchers say they've found a way to figure out people's Social Security numbers, potentially opening a new front in the battle against identity theft.
Alessandro Acquisti and Ralph Gross said they hope their findings, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
Did not the libs of the 30s not promise that our SSN would not be utilized for identification?
Of course, when has anything they promised come about?
OK, great... now they tell the whole world how to get SS#’s
yep, Happy days are here again.... 8^(
Sorry, this is BS.
I have two sisters and three brothers. All of us were born in different states and our SSNs are consecutive.
Bravo Sierra. If they are using JUST birthday and home state, there will be many born during that 24 hour period.
They may be able to narrow it down to a range, but can’t pinpoint.
And what about naturalized citizens?
This may apply to individuals who have been assigned their SSN at or near the time of their birth, but not otherwise. My parents did not get us SSN’s until we were several years old, and living in a different state from the one(s) we were born in. A few years, I looked into the provenance of my SSN, and found that it corresponded to the state where we got our SSN, not my birth state.
The article may still make some interesting reading, however, because it could be an algorithm that works frequently enough to be useful to identity thieves who have several thousand people’s personal credit data or some other potentially lucrative personal information needing a valid SSN to exploit.
I’m not sure, either, about the “first three digits are the digits of the zip code”.
It is true that the FIRST digit sometimes is the Fed zone you are in (Maine, 0, California 9, like the fed appeals court districts.
A lot of guys in high school didn't have one until they were told in junior year to get one because you needed it for all the college applications.
That’s some crack! The scheme is outlined right on the the social security webpage:
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/ssn/geocard.html
I remember me and my 3 siblings all getting ours at the same time. We are not consecutive but close.
how about we get rid of SSNs? Oh wait you are a fully actualized human being without a government issued id number.
Ever hear those forlorn people who say “I have a hole in my soul that only a 12 digit serial number can fill.”?
“This may apply to individuals who have been assigned their SSN at or near the time of their birth, but not otherwise. My parents did not get us SSN’s until we were several years old, and living in a different state from the one(s) we were born in. A few years, I looked into the provenance of my SSN, and found that it corresponded to the state where we got our SSN, not my birth state.”
Exactly! Most people simply do not get them until they need them, which can be long after they were born.
But the article infers that a name can be matched (the threat of identity theft) to the SSN just by knowing a birthdate and a state. Again, rubbish!
I think it is BS too, because children's SSNs have been known to be easily memorized by parents--and that has to be by design.
567-68-0515
I have two sisters and three brothers. All of us were born in different states and our SSNs are consecutive.
********************************************************
easy explaination ,, you and your siblings were born at a time when applying for a ssn was not mandatory at birth ,, I got my ssn at age 16 ... your parents applied for all your ssn’s at one time .. they therefore had the same 3 digit state code for the state you were living in at THAT time and the other digits are just sequential ..
I was born in Ca, but my SS doesn't start with 9.
Both of my children got their numbers at birth. The middle two numbers are the year of birth. They were born six years apart, in two different states.
Agreed. But when was it made mandatory at birth? There has to be millions of people like me who do fit some algorithm.
Even so, how can one match a name to a SSN just by knowing the birth date and birth state?
This is all to throw a scare into people, which passes for news these days.
For more recent children, since SSN of the kid is now required on income tax return when parents claim them as dependents, it’s probable that a large percent of newborns get their SSN at or soon after birth, which would increase the “hit rate” of an algorithm based on birth date and state at time of birth.
However, if you provide a birthdate and a SSN, and the two don’t match a formula, then it could redflag that person - IF the gov’t wanted to do anything about illegals stealing SSNs that is.
Not gonna happen.
By the way, this is done with credit card numbers and expiration dates. There are certain formulations of the number that match with the exp month/year.
I suspect they are lying. The number is based on where and when you get it, not where and when you were born.
“who do not fit...”
Sorry
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.