Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!seismo!uunet!wuarchive!uwm.edu!bbn.com!rwaters From: rwaters@bbn.com (Rolland Waters) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: Social Security numbers Message-ID: <62440@bbn.BBN.COM> Date: 31 Jan 91 17:14:25 GMT References: <29736@mimsy.umd.edu> <1991Jan31.044728.28435@iecc.cambridge.ma.us> Sender: news@bbn.com Reply-To: rwaters@vax.bbn.com (Rolland Waters) Distribution: na Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA Lines: 42 In article johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine) writes: > You are free not to give it, and they are free not to do > business with you. They are not free not to do business with you? Can you give me an example, including under what law? Maybe when you're filing a credit or bank application, but not otherwise. There should be laws in most states to prevent businesses from refusing customers on arbitrary grounds; these laws largely came out of anti-discrimination efforts. >For government use, whenever they ask for your SSN they are required to tell >you why they ask and what will happen if you don't give it. In general, it's >supposed to be required only for tax purposes, but there are exceptions to >"in general" through which you could drive a supertanker. Only too true. > Many states > absolutely require your SSN for a drivers license, and a lot of them insist > on putting it on your license. Here in Mass. they ask but on request (and > without giving you a hard time) the license has a "state" number which is the > letter S followed by 9 digits and is very handy for confusing droids who want > to type the number into computers that know that the number contains only > digits. I'd be curious, which states? As a gov't institution, aren't they prevented from *requiring* your SSN? Agreed, you'll run into droids who'll think you're required to give it to them, but droids have supervisors. [Although, when you're in the middle of nowhere, stopped by the Arizona State Police, droids don't always have supervisors :-( ] Agreed, when I got Mass. to delete my SSN from my driver's license, they were quite nice about it. >Personally, I have developed amnesia. I don't know my SSN. Agreed; although misremembering is sometimes easier. They get a number and are happy. Rolland