Social Security Numbers and User Authentication

[Thomas Dowling]

-----Original Message-----
From: Kathy Mcgreevy <kathy at floyd.santarosa.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at library.berkeley.edu>
Date: Monday, November 03, 1997 9:13 PM
Subject: Social Security Numbers and User Authentication


>
>Our campus Computing Services Department is currently working on the user
>authentication process that will validate our users for remote access
>to IAC's SearchBank. They've proposed that people's
>social security numbers be used as their login ID to the College's
>online authentication process, i.e. a user will key in his/her SSN, a
>computer on campus will check it to verify that s/he is currently enrolled
>or employed here, and s/he'll be cleared for access to whatever we want
>them to have access to.
>
>At a recent workshop, three librarians mentioned that they thought
>it was *illegal* to use the social security number for user
>authentication. (Not to mention that few people will want to anyway.)
>Does anyone know anything about the legality of using SSNs for
>authentication? (Haven't found anything in the archives of this list.)
>


Approx. 90 seconds of searching the web got me to
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10002.html and:

"...Just as having a Social Security number is no longer a symbol of
adulthood, the number's use is no longer confined to working and paying
taxes. In ever increasing numbers, government agencies, schools, and
businesses rely on Social Security numbers to identify people in their
computer systems. Everyone seems to want your Social Security number.

"The Social Security Administration (SSA) is aware of concerns about the
increasing uses of the Social Security number for client identification and
recordkeeping purposes. You should not use your Social Security card as an
identification card..."


IOW, SSA expects people to use the *number* for various purposes, but you
should not/cannot use the actual card as ID.


Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu