Social security numbers need to be phased out. Such a ridiculous and outdated system.
this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2025
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It's important to remember social security numbers were created ONLY to track Social Security benefits. And the Social Security Bureau continually advised everyone to please not use them for a way to teach other things, but no one listened so here we are. The Bureau readily admits it's not designed to do anything else . https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19697506/#%3A%7E%3Atext=Abstract%2Cas+a+nearly+universal+identifier.
But they're shit even for that. Part of tracking Social Security benefits is tracking taxes paid to Social Security. Unlike other forms of ID, like credit cards, SSNs have no check digits or other means of error prevention. Take a valid SSN. Change on of the digits. That new number is also a valid SSN. Any random 9-digit number can be a valid SSN.
What this means is that all it takes to screw up any form with an SSN on it is to have illegible handwriting on a single one of the digits. You make a single easy error on an employment form, and now your SS taxes are registered under the wrong number.
I'm also skeptical of the Social Security Bureau's stance on insisting it wasn't intended as a broad identifier. OF COURSE it was going to be used as an identifier! It's the only single ID number that the federal government gives out to everyone. OF COURSE it's going to be used for that. Such a number is of such obvious and great utility that of course it was going to be used for broader purposes. If you create something of such obvious utility, you have an obligation to make sure it's made well.
It also really strains credulity when Social Security has an entire system dedicated to allowing third parties to verify SSNs. It's literally called The Social Security Verification Service.
If the Social Security Administration really didn't want SSNs being used for purposes other than Social Security, then they could have easily prevented them for being used for such purposes. Think about how your SSN works with your bank. You apply for a bank account. They ask you your SSN. You tell them. But how do they know that this information is accurate? Your bank contacts Social Security! The bank has a form you sign that gives permission for them to as the Social Security Bureau to confirm your SSN. And the Social Security office happily obliges.
The Social Security Administration doesn't just tolerate the use of SSNs for third party uses. It actively facilitates such third party uses of SSNs.
You're noticing all the things that have happened since the Bureau have up trying to prevent the usage. Remember there was no way to electronically do anything like this for decades after the SSN was created. And the Bureau has no authority to enforce any kind of prevention, but was forced to support it's usage as a result of the Federal government lack of action to come up with any other system for the last 90 years.
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Yup. It's ridiculous that it's snowballed into this precious secret that you have to give to most employers π€¦π»
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we should just give everyone a uuid.
Just brand a number into their necks, that should make things easier
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Right? Children should be minted as on the block chain. They're basically NFTs.
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Why. The hell. Are we supposed to keep sacred a piece of paper that only has 9 precious numbers we can't choose, but that will permanently identify us, that will deteriorate over time, we're not supposed to laminate or protect it, and we only have limited replacements!? So dumb...
Got rained on when I went to a new job about 10 years ago, had it in my wallet so they could copy it for new hire bs. The colors bled and the blue stained other parts of the card. I never got it replaced but seriously, it isn't even as durable as a dollar bill.
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You can use plastic sleeve covers, just nothing permanent like laminate. You can't scan it with laminate.
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Avoid paying taxes with this one weird trick
How do we convince sovereign citizens that by claiming, and then burning, all their 10 replacement cards, they get loopholes out of paying federal income taxes?
Give them a federally issued punch card and say after you lose 10 social security cards you get a free sub and chips combo
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so if you want to ruin someones life, just steal their social security card 10 times?
I mean... you could just falsely accuse them of being a terrorist. π€·ββοΈ
You could just falsely accuse them of being an immigrant.
It's a legit fear I have going to a protest as a Latino. They say don't take IDs with you to protests. Bruh, I'm taking my US Passport so I don't get deported to Guantanamo. No guarantee that will work either.
Your SS card has been redeemed, you have 8 protests remaining. Enroll in citizenship plus for $999,999,999.99 and get 100 lifetime SS card replacements, plus a month of Tesla+ on us!
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Iβm ordering three every year until I have all 11, then Iβm gonna keel over in anxiety.
We should have a new rule: He/She who holds all 11 Social Security cards at age 35, without losing any of them, get a chance to become US president for 8 years, immune to impeachments. Every 8 years, all holders of all 11 Social Security cards between the age of 35 and 43 get locked in a room with all their cards and there will be a fight to see who can steal the most Social Security cards while keeping all their 11.
Whoever lose all their cards have to be punished: They will have to work at the IRS for the rest of their life (well unless they get too old, then they can get to leave). π
This is definitely better than the electoral college.
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What happens if someone gets married a lot and keeps needing a new card with new name?
Now I'm wondering what the maximum number of times someone has been married. Elizabeth Taylor was married 8 times (twice to Burton, so she could have reused that one if she kept it) But if she took her husband's last name legally (while keeping her stage name) each time, she would have been pushing the limit, and over it if she went back to her maiden name, lost any cards, or didn't keep old ones... Or if her lawyers were like, don't change your name legally again after husband 5?
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I learned this for my parents because they had to keep getting me new ones. They got my name incorrect 9 times, the social security office. So my parents kept going back and then they warned them I'm close to the limit. My mom and dad we're pissed because my parents didn't lose it the office kept making a mistake but it doesn't matter. Now my mom keeps it so it doesn't get lost.
I donβt get it. Is a social secuirty thingy the same as what National IDβs are for in other countries?
Yes, but in that typically bonkers American way you also have to keep it secret (so nobody can steal your identity), while at the same time revealing it to every Tom, Dick and Harry every time you have to prove your identity.
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It's not supposed to be an identifier, but since it's the only nationally-assigned designation all citizens get it's treated like one.
Which is stupid. It's incredibly insecure, vitally important, leaked to every bad actor on the planet already, and unchangeable when it gets compromised (which it has been).
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Yes, sort of, but in a stupid way. The number is treated as a unique identifier of a person, but you don't carry it around since it's so insecure.
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Yesn't.
In a nutshell, Social Security is a government run pension/retirement savings system. With a few exceptions you can look up on your own if you're curious, every American worker pays into the social security system as a tax on income. Each person in the system, so basically everyone working a job in the US, gets an account number, their Social Security Number.
For awhile after the system started, you'd get your SSN when you got your first job. At some point, they introduced a tax credit for parents with children, if you had a child you could deduct them on your taxes. People started claiming they had more kids than they did to pay less taxes. Sure, let's just tell the government we have 12 kids, they won't know we only have 5. The solution to this problem was to require the children being claimed had social security numbers. This had two effects: 1. it got rid of those "paper children," and 2. Signing up for social security and getting a social security number is part of being born; every American now has a serial number, issued on a card.
The kind of people who are ruining our nation right now are opposed to a national ID system because they hate being part of a functioning society. So we don't have a national ID card the way many nations do. State governments issue a number of IDs of various types, the de facto standard for identification in the US is a driver's license. The vast majority of Americans have one. But, not all. The only unique number common to (practically) ALL Americans is a Social Security Number.
Numbers like credit card numbers or sanely designed ID systems have built-in checksums, not every number that fits the regex for a Visa card number is a valid Visa card number. A social security number doesn't have that; it wasn't intended as an ID number, it's an account number, you can tell when and where it was issued by looking at it because it's a serial number. And because most Americans younger than the president were issued their numbers at birth, you can guess a lot of their number based on where and when they were born. The last four digits are a simple serial number...and often used by banks and such as a second factor. "Okay, just tell me your date of birth and the last four of your social." the bank teller will ask you out loud.
It's something we're gonna have to fix after the war.
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How many times until they catch the cocksuckers that keep stealing them then?
At 44, I'm pretty sure it's been stolen ten times.
Or better yet, unfuck the system that requires us to have the damned things?
Where are you keeping your social security card that it keeps getting stolen? Is it in your wallet or in your house somewhere and your getting broken into a whole bunch?
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might need to respawn
Haha, dammit I snorted. Fine, enjoy the upvote
Ruh roh... I can't even remember how many times I've had it replaced. π¨
π
But I have good news for you, I heard that they are dismantling the IRS ππ
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40+ years, and I'm still on number one. I laminated mine, because I'm a rebel that way.
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After that they come round and tattoo it onto your forehead.
I had to replace mine once. Put it in a safer spot and havenβt had to move it since. I canβt imagine what someone is doing where theyβd need to replace a social security card 10 times.
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