[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

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.

[Tanniker Smith]

Good point. I didn't get one until I opened a bank account, and I was the first of my friends to have one.

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.

[Daniel II]

“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!

[firebrand]

But they used dead people, who probably received their SSNs at some time after birth--when they got their first job perhaps.

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.