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.
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.
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.
The sad thing is this is kinda solved in the advertising space. Like, they know who I am, uniquely, including emails, phone numbers, and drivers license. The data is available, but banks (the primary users of the SSN) are perpetually stuck with 30yo tech.
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.
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.
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.
The sad thing is this is kinda solved in the advertising space. Like, they know who I am, uniquely, including emails, phone numbers, and drivers license. The data is available, but banks (the primary users of the SSN) are perpetually stuck with 30yo tech.