In Canada most citizens will have a Soical Insurance Number, commonly referred to as a SIN number. I recall getting mine when I was a teenager and was going to start working. Nowadays, you get one almost as soon as you are born. My daughter obtained one within months of her birth. I recall that, because I was surprised and for some reason I recall it was required. Of course, that immediately triggered thoughts of why do they need to do this now? Tracking? More detailed history of people? These and other conspiracy thoughts went through my mind.
Here is an article about an individual in Ontario, Canada, who was the culprit of identify theft through no fault of his own. The government, unable to properly secure sensitive information had his identity stolen. In the article it is stated:
“I don’t want any money — not a dime,” he said. “I just want a new social insurance number so that I can disassociate myself from the fraud and start my life over again.”
Seman said he has been fighting for a new SIN number in writing, in person and on the telephone for five years, but hasn’t been able to get one.
“How hard can it be?” he said.
Unfortunately, very hard. This is very difficult and expensive problem, and even trying to solve it will not guarantee a solution. Today, a SIN number is the one thing that connects you the most. Almost any form you send to the government will have your SIN number. This number will be linked with all medical information on procedures that you have had, doctors you have seen, prescriptions you have been given. Financial corporations require it for financial transactions, bank accounts, mortgages, loans, stock trading. It is the key to your credit rating. Companies you work for require so they can submit income and other financial information to the government. This one number links you throughout the government, throughout the medial and financial worlds both in public and private databases and paper file systems. It really is a ‘key’ to finding out everything about you. And that is exactly how it is used.
In order to offer the ability to change your SIN number, the government would have to have a way to change every record in every database both public and private. It would have to be able to change this number on forms and records that have been filled out that are not electronic. If any mistake is made, then information on you is effectively lost. For example, suppose you were rushed to a hospital unconscious from a car accident. From the Identification on you, a drivers license confirmed your identity, which led them to your SIN number. The SIN number permitted the hospital to pull your medial records. Now suppose you had your SIN number changed, and a major medical procedure you had a few years ago at a medical facility did not change the SIN number. That information is now lost and is not available to the medical staff getting ready to treat you in the current emergency situation. One could argue that they can use name, birth date, and other details to find the required information. Although this is somewhat true, it is not as guaranteed as a SIN number. The SIN number is the best assurance of the accuracy of the linking of the information. Is this a bad thing? Maybe or maybe not.
The risk of giving individuals the ability to have their SIN number changed is not worth the overall risk or not being able to gather information or missing information by government, law enforcement and any one else looking to obtain details about you. That is why the solution is to give you negligible amounts of money, and offer you free credit report checking. It is easier and much less risky. Currently the number of people that have their identity stolen versus those that don’t is small.
Of course identity theft will only increase and this problem will get worse. Eventually, they will be forced to deal with it on a global scale. There are procedures I believe to obtain a new SIN number. Witness protection program and things of that nature, but these are very few scenarios, few people and are manageable.
Today, the problem is expensive to solve, difficult to solve with no guarantees of not having information lost, and it affects a few minor people’s lives. Government response is unfortunate, but logical. Personally, I don’t agree with it, but until it gets more visibility either by many more people being affected or a few very public people having their identities stolen not much will happen beyond the preventative steps you see today.
I had the privilege yesterday of speaking to some law enforcement personnel and forensics experts. The topic was on DNS forensics, the SSL server_name option, and working with service providers. I enjoyed the opportunity. I really like talking about network forensics, and being surrounded by smart people that are experts in their field. It also allows me to practice my public speaking which is always good.
