I was wondering about this service, so am bummed that it can’t protect a person’s identity.
One thing that bothers me about the whole “keep your SSN a secret” is that EVERYBODY asks for it and claims that they need it.
How many times do people fill-out applications for store credit cards, and some minimum wage clerk (with no background check) now has your SSN. Same goes for medical offices, job applications, colleges (where your SSN used to be your student ID number), etc.
Ideally, we could all get new numbers that would be used exclusively for formal reasons (ID for government entities & benefits, etc.) and our current SSNs should be used for credit and consumer-related things — and should be better controlled through the credit bureaus.
Additionally, if fraud is detected, there should be a way to immediately lock-down any further use of the SSN and clear up any fraudulent activity on one’s reports.
