For American citizens, the Social Security number serves as their basic piece of identification. Social Security numbers came to be used for a number of applications far beyond their intended purpose. For many decades, nearly every official record pertaining to an individual was linked to her Social Security number. This expansion has had both advantages and serious disadvantages.
The Social Security Number
When Social Security numbers were first introduced in 1936, their intended purpose was for calculating retirement benefits. The federal government promised that these numbers would not be used for any other purpose. The nine-digit SSN is composed of three parts: the three-digit Area Number, the two-digit Group Number and the four-digit Serial Number. The Area Number pertains to the geographical region of the country. Within each area, the Group Number is assigned in a range between 01 and 99, but not consecutively. The Serial Number is assigned consecutively within each group.
Standardized Records
Social Security numbers soon became the de facto means of identifying each American. Many official records within the federal government were identified by an individual's Social Security number. Hospitals, employers, schools and other institutions also began using Social Security numbers to identify patients, workers and students. As computers became more widely used, Social Security numbers proved to be an extremely convenient way of categorizing individual records and synthesizing records from many sources into easily accessed files.
Commercial Uses
Social Security numbers are also routinely used by banks, credit card companies and other commercial establishments to make credit granting and other financial decisions. Information brokers have taken advantage of this fact by compiling lists of Social Security numbers sorted by income, gender and other factors and offering the lists for sale. Congress has made a number of attempts to prohibit the commercial sale of Social Security numbers, but as of 2009, none had been passed into law.
Identity Theft
Because Social Security numbers are so widely used and so closely identified with an individual, they also pose a major threat for identity theft. With an individual's Social Security number, it is possible to learn their age, their present address, their place of work and other sensitive pieces of information. More than 163,000 women who participated in a mammography research project at the University of North Carolina learned that personal information about them, including their Social Security numbers, had been accessed by hackers sometime in 2007. The security breach did not come to light until September 2009.
Social Security Cards Issued by Woolworth
In 1938, wallet manufacturer the E.H. Ferree Co. in Lockport, New York, used the real Social Security number of one of its employees, Hilda Schrader Whitcher, on a sample card to illustrate how a Social Security card would fit into one of its wallets. The wallets were sold through Woolworth and other stores across the country. Although the card was printed in red and had the word "SAMPLE" printed conspicuously on it, many people adopted the number, 078-05-1120, as their own. In 1943, 5,755 people were discovered to be using this Social Security number. As late as 1977, 12 people were found to still be using this Social Security number. Through the years, more than 40,000 people used the Social Security number. The Social Security Administration issued Hilda Schrader Whitcher a new Social Security number
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