• ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net
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    3 months ago

    Every year for the past decade, we’ve had a major hack involving millions of American’s private info.

    It’s getting impossible to remember I’m how many times Ive been on those lists.

  • Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    Thank you Americans for providing yet another great example to point to, when arguing that holding private data centrally will inevitably lead to it being stolen.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I mean, it is a limited data set of less than a billion numbers…

    001-01-0000 to 728-99-9999

    The area number (001) and group number (01) are also known quantites, so you can limit that set down greatly. 729 to 999 are not in use for example.

    • GardenVarietyAnxiety@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      You’re not wrong, but there are enough demographics encoded in one that they could probably match names to a lot of them, if they don’t already have them, with some brokered (or stolen) data

      Not as much data encoded as I thought. Just place of birth, but still. If you are able to get these paired with data, this could be very bad.

      Or very good, depending on your opinion of the system 😜

      • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Technically not place of birth, it’s the zip code of the address when the SSN was requested, but yeah, close enough for government work! ;)

  • Zier@fedia.io
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    3 months ago

    Maybe use the number for Social Security taxes & benefits only and stop tying everything else to it, which I believe is actually illegal.

    • faede@mander.xyz
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      3 months ago

      Yep, but it doesn’t even stop the federal government itself from using it all over.

  • delirious_owl@discuss.online
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    3 months ago

    In a system that requires you to give your private keys to the other person for authentication, you basically have to revoke and generate new credentials every time you auth.

    So basically we need to get a new passport or drivers license or social security number after every time we take a photo of it or let someone else scan it.

    So basically its impossible to protect yourself in this environment