Nihil .. it's an American thing.

When the SSN was initiated it was designed solely as an account number to Social Security. It was FORBIDDEN to be used as an identifying feature. So our anti Orwellian minds don't like it being used in that way. That is (one). People in the time frame of the Soviet Union's agression were afraid of becoming a number instead of John Smith. THX-1138... no what I mean?

(Two)... the people in the 70s decided it was being used in "that way" and abused. So the government, our big abusive brother, decided we didn't have a right to financial privacy while at the same time protecting consumer concerns, and enacted the Financial Privacy Act of 1978. Note the word privacy... us Americans get hung up on that. It basically states that you as a holder of the SSN will protect it and limit it in certain ways and we have a right to confidentiality that directly ties to the SSN. Even though the government can get it via Legal Procedures in Criminal cases. And there is no protection within the constitution to stop them. The GOV that is.

Note my other thread on the Patriot Act and financial monitoring. Also on a side note the Electronic Communications Privacy Act modified the Foreign Intelligence Act of 1978. The Patriot Act modifys many of these older laws.

But the Patriot Act snuck in and REALLY removes Financial Privacy. So we are protective over this number because it gives someone access to a range of information and they aren't supposed to access it without our permission. It IS the basis for our identity in the scheme of things. the very basis. It's not supposed to be used to ID us, but it does and that makes us freak out and it's supposed to be protected. This is getting long but it's an American Thing.

As for the Vets, well they pretty much sign away every lick of privacy when they join up. That SSN is on EVERYTHING with most of it public record. Hell even a check you right at the Commissary has it one the front. Which gets imaged and transported all over the globe depending on where your bank is. So I don't see the big deal in this case, outside GREED.

It's kind of like protecting your IP address. Keeping it secret at times. That either made it MORE confusion or not?