[ale] OT: am I paranoid?

[Ronald Chmara]

On Thursday, October 9, 2003, at 12:13  PM, George Carless wrote:
> Just to add a contrary view - as a non-American, I'm a little 
> bewildered
> by all of the fuss around SSNs.  I think it's a little bizarre that
> they're so widely used as a general means of identification when their
> original purpose was presumably limited to 'social security'.  But 
> surely
> the cat is out of the bag?  SSNs seem to be so widely used, and already
> applied to so many areas, that worrying about things like the display 
> of a
> few numbers on a web page would seem like a non-issue -- or rather a 
> mere
> more obvious example of what is already a problem.

Fundamental american (US) right:
1. To do anything you please without anybody knowing.

Murder? yes. but use evidence of action to convict, not a number.
Rape? yes. but use evidence of action to convict, not a number.
Speech about M$? yes. but use evidence of action, not a number.

The fear comes from people being tracked and traced, and tried and 
convicted, based on mere *numbers*. People who died for murder because 
some paperwork said they should.

I know it sounds odd, to a non-citizen. In the US, if someone with 
papers showing that citizen 1911489147 was on the scene, they can't be 
arrested. Why? Because numbers are so easily forged.

-Bop