for those who are interested in property rights,
there is teh legal concept of the "property of your person".
Is you personal information your property? Do you own yourself? Do you have a right to be secure in controlling the property of your person?
I think it is fair to restrict the sale of a persons social security number in much the same way we regulate the sale of kidneys.
Property rights? Everyone has rights to my property except me. If I had 1 penny for every piece of junk mail, telephone call, email spam, etc. that I receive(d) due to my private information being sold to these yahoos without my permission, I could retire. If these goons who sell my name and information were forced to pay me a per centage for using and selling my name and personal information, there would be a whole lot less junk mail, scams, spams, crank calls, etc. to contend with. If that isn't bad enough, the same yahoos that buy and sell your name and private info, also have a tendency of losing it to the wrong people.
Now, privacy rights - that is another issue, but closely related. My name is my property, along with my credit history, assets, etc. It is my humble opinion that many other people seem to believe the same. However, by government mandate we are forced to divulge private information to our employers, doctors, dentists, etc. every time we need a check up or to get our teeth cleaned. We are forced to provide private information about ourselves that in turn must be made readily available to any government agency that inquires, and we are forced to sign a form that indicates we acknowledge we have "privacy rights" under a Clinton endorsed "privacy" act. The medical forms we sign specifically state that our "private" information could be submitted for use by other doctors, insurance companies, and/or government agencies for security purposes. These agencies are the very ones who hire companies like "ChoicePoint" to analyze and scrutinize our private data only to lose it to hackers.
Lawmakers should be paying the taxpayers for their personal information - not billing the taxpayers for their personal information then selling it to the first group who comes along to fill a campaign coffer.
Excuse me ... don't mean to rant. But I agree with your opinion. Our social security numbers were never meant to be sold, and should not be sold under any circumstance.