• boonhet@lemm.ee
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    7 hours ago

    Americans are pretty weird about their ID things.

    Other than a driver’s license, most of them don’t have any ID.

    They don’t have any sort of unique ID number either. They have a social security number, which is not guaranteed to be unique. Two people can have the same SSN. One person can have two SSNs. You’re apparently supposed to keep your SSN secret, but they’re assigned somewhat sequentially and they get leaked a lot. It’s a clusterfuck.

    • I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      SSNs are guaranteed to be unique upon assignment. The problem is that so many leaks have happened that nearly everyone’s has been stolen and is being used in some type of financial identity theft. The thieves are the people with two (or more) SSNs.

    • Coriza@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      It is supposed to to keep your SSN secret and not carry the card with you everywhere but you have to memorize it and everyone and their dog is gonna ask for it. It is kinda scary how many times you have to give it out to random people over the phone or email.

    • ricecake
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      6 hours ago

      SSN is about the worst identifier, but they have revamped the process to remove some of those issues. It should no longer be possible for people to be issued the same number, and they’re no longer sequential or assigned in geographic blocks.

      Doesn’t change the existing ones, but going forward.