[slg]

This is neither a problem of funding or any government service being at fault. This is the fault of American culture. A national ID system sounds too scary to too many Americans. Politicians aren't going to waste their political capital on pushing through something so unpopular. It really isn't any more complicated than that. There is a huge desire for some sort of national ID system and SSNs are the closest we got so they filled the vacuum. It is silly to blame that on the IRS. It is a societal failure.

[wilkystyle]

I'm not trying to be combative, but this sentiment just doesn't pass the smell test to me.

Yes, I agree that there is a cultural undercurrent of fear around a national ID system, and I also agree that politicians are likely to game their political capital for the greatest return in their career.

What I do NOT believe is that the Social Security number just sort of came about and started being used by government services such as the IRS without anyone being responsible for that huge organizational decision or the initial (current?) lack of security controls around its implementation.

To me, it seems to be an almost certainty that it is both an organizational problem at the government service level AND (as a result) a funding problem.

[slg]

>What I do NOT believe is that the Social Security number just sort of came about and started being used by government services such as the IRS without anyone being responsible for that huge organizational decision or the initial (current?) lack of security controls around its implementation.

They didn’t “just sort of come about”, they were created for this exact purpose of tracking government services. Over the years, the number of government services expanded because of the lack of other alternative like I said.

And the lack of security around SSNs is because they weren't intended to be secret. It is generally private sector groups like banks and credit agencies that have turned this into a problem by treating SSNs as if they are a proof of identification. They were created as usernames, but people treated them as passwords.

[wilkystyle]

> They were created as usernames, but people treated them as passwords.

Fully agree, but I don't see how this refutes what I and the root-level comment (anti-IRS sentiment aside) are saying.

> the lack of security around SSNs is because they weren't intended to be secret.

The lack of security is not BECAUSE they weren't intended to be secret. The lack of security is because numerous organizations (including the IRS, until their introduction of an IP PIN) treated these "usernames" as though they were passwords.

It's not a design problem with original intent of SSNs, it's an implementation problem with any organization using them improperly. Gov't services are just as responsible as banks and credit agencies when they misuse them.