I am not a number!

I’m sure someone ’round the Viet Nam War thought replacing all those military “serial numbers” with folks Social Security Numbers was a great idea. I mean, why force people to memorize additional numbers? Why require cross-references between military files and Social Security records? I mean, it’s all good, right?

Um, well … maybe not.

With SSNs turning into a de facto national ID number, the US military code of conduct …

ARTICLE V: When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.

… may become a route to identity theft.

Captured American military personnel are required to disclose their SSNs under the Code of Conduct and the Geneva Convention. But now, according to the Marine Corps judge advocate general’s office, “With the advent of the information age, the disclosure of a service member’s SSN to a captor presents a new and unforeseen set of security concerns.” Using the Internet, enemies might be able to access a prisoner’s financial, family and insurance records. “This information can be used by our enemies to attempt to break a serviceableness resistance to enemy interrogations,” the Marine lawyers wrote in a memo in February.

This isn’t just theoretical. It used to be that officer promotions were, in some cases, listed in the Congressional Record, and those entries include the service numbers — their SSNs.

In December, the Secret Service arrested three people for credit card fraud against military officers. Taking listings of officer promotions from the Congressional Record, the three applied for 113 unauthorized credit card accounts and then made $37,000 in Internet purchases. The Secret Service found more than 700 fraudulent accounts, with total losses estimated at $1.4 million, under the officers’ names.
According to an internal Marine Corps memo, approximately 40 Marine Corps general and Navy flag officers have had their SSNs used fraudulently as a result of the posting of their SSNs on the Web.

Just imagine what some enterprising Iraqi interrogators might do once they find themselves unemployed shortly …

My company recently went to having employee numbers that are not SSNs — reactions both to some state laws and to, well, being a multinational firm. While that means I have to keep track of a different number for those occasions when I need to fax in a timesheet, it’s worth it knowing that the timesheet I leave sitting on my desk no longer has my SSN on it.