The social security number was created for the federal government to identify taxpayers. It has been co-opted by many businesses to use as a customer ID, and has become a defacto national ID. This facilitates identity theft, because the number is in the hands of many people and can easily be stolen. Once stolen, along with easily available information from public records, it opens the door for identity theft.
By making it illegal for businesses to use SSN except for when needed to report information to the government for tax purposes, this critical ID number would be better safeguarded.
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