wrote in message
...
MacCandace wrote:
I would hope that would not be public information. It certainly
shouldn't be.

But I think it is...

Scarey, isn't it? You know, I heard that when they introduced SS #'s they
swore they weren't going to be used for identification....


Alice

Yes, it is scary, and the Social Security Administration STILL has a rule
that SS is not to be used as indentification. What a laugh! The University
where I work requires us to write our SS numbers on every check they cash,
and these numbers are readily available to others (starting with the people
who handle the checks). Ironically, faculty are not permitted to use any
part of SS numbers for grade posting (not even 3 or 4 digits of the number,
as we once did), but every university I have ever been associated with uses
the number as the "student's ID" and prints them for all faculty,
administrators, etc. This is only the tip of the iceberg, of course -- the
part that I am most familiar with, but you will also find that stores
require SS numbers if you want to open an account and various commercial
entities use them for identification. I recently attended a speech given by
the director of the local Soc. Sec. office, and he described using SS as
identification as one of his "pet peeves."

MaryL