[LINK] Number One Privacy Debacle

[Deus Ex Machina]

Karl Auer [kauer at biplane.com.au] wrote:
> This was Number One in the Privacy Debacle Hall of Fame in 2003:
> 
> 1. The creation of the Social Security Number: 
> Although security blogger Adam Shostack is known for his expertise on
> information-age data leaks, he considers the creation of the Social
> Security Number in 1936 to be the "largest privacy disaster in the
> history of the U.S." Referencing controversy over the card's creation at
> the time, he said, "Ironically, privacy advocates warned that the number
> would become a de facto national ID, and their concerns were belittled,
> then proven right, setting a pattern that still goes on today."
> 
> See http://www.wired.com/news/politics/privacy/0,71622-0.html

its extremely easy to be negative about this without weighing up the
benefit that having the SSN actually produces.

Vic