alt Hacker News> IDscan was never cryptographic proof you were who you said you were. Maybe better than “enter your name and SSN”
With the benefit of hindsight, we'd have all been better off if SSNs had been so obviously flagrantly public that nobody would ever consider them a trust-factor.
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fortran77 • today at 7:28 PM
But they were! My college student ID from 1980 has my SS number right on it. I have here an employee badge from the Walt Disney Company from 2000 and my SS number is in a bar code right on the bottom. Even in 2000, it would be trivial to take a photo of someone wearing the ID badge and decode the 1D bar code on it.
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To be fair many SS cards were printed stating right on them they aren't for ID usage.