Is Minnesota TOO Nice?

[Lindsey]

From the April Harper's Index:


Price for which companies can purchase the personal data of all Minnesota drivers'-license holders form the state: $1,500

Esitmated number that have bought the data so far: 800

Nice Minnesota people: I think you have an incipient identity theft problem...

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

It annoys me no end to think that I have to provide information to certain people (particularly government agencies) which then turn around and sell it.

[Jeff]

It annoys me no end to think that I have to provide information to certain people (particularly government agencies) which then turn around and sell it.

I just had a major pulmonary research hospital in Denver ask for my SS number. I said no way, no more. They said they needed it to talk to my ($800 a month) health insurance company. I said, no you don't and if you do have the insurance company call me. They didn't. More and more I just say no, and wait to see what happens. It is, after all, illegal to use the SS number for identification purposes, or so it says on my 50 year old SS card.

- Jeff

[Judy G. Russell]

More and more I just say no, and wait to see what happens.A good way to handle things... and more and more you'll find that they don't need the info and will settle when you get testy with them.

[Lindsey]

It annoys me no end to think that I have to provide information to certain people (particularly government agencies) which then turn around and sell it.
The state of Virginia was talking about selling drivers'-license information, but there was such a public outcry about it, that they dropped it. (I think, too, that was about the time the DMV was in the news for a scandal involving selling licenses to people from out of state or who otherwise didn't qualify for them.)

What really shocked me was the relatively low pricetag Minnesota had put on the purchase of a database of personal information on millions of people.

But I agree with your point: a government shouldn't be allowed to sell the information that it compels its citizens to provide, not for any price.

--Lindsey

[Lindsey]

They said they needed it to talk to my ($800 a month) health insurance company. I said, no you don't and if you do have the insurance company call me.
Exactly right -- to the best of my knowledge, all of the insurers have switched to systems that use other numbers, just as (many? most? all?) state DMVs have. Of course, I'm betting your insurer still has your SSN in its database, and can almost certainly access your files that way. Hard to un-ring the bell.

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

I agree with your point: a government shouldn't be allowed to sell the information that it compels its citizens to provide, not for any price.Now if we could give convince the government...

[rlohmann]

Maryland, at least, doesn't even ask for your SSAN when they give you a driver's license. They just stick a number of their own creation on the license. I suspect that with all the uproar, that practice will spread.

(Maryland does a lot of very bad things, too, of course.) :(

[Judy G. Russell]

It used to be, once upon a time, that a lot of states used the SSN instead of a different number for driver's licenses. When I lived in Virginia it was that way. NJ has always had its own system, with a 15-digit code incorporating your birthday.

[Lindsey]

It used to be, once upon a time, that a lot of states used the SSN instead of a different number for driver's licenses. When I lived in Virginia it was that way. NJ has always had its own system, with a 15-digit code incorporating your birthday.
Virginia now uses a different number as a matter of statute. For a number of years, they allowed you to use a different number if you insisted, but now they've done away with using SSNs altogether.

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

Virginia now uses a different number as a matter of statute. For a number of years, they allowed you to use a different number if you insisted, but now they've done away with using SSNs altogether.I think they had to change; if memory serves me, it's now federal law.

[ktinkel]

More and more I just say no, and wait to see what happens. It is, after all, illegal to use the SS number for identification purposes, or so it says on my 50 year old SS card.You are very straightford and honorable — if asked for my SSN (at a supermarket so I can write checks, for example) I just make up a number.

But I now see on my shiny new Medicare card that my ID is a transparently modified version of my SSN. Sigh. I realize that Medicare is related to SS, but why couldn’t they do what the banks, credit unions, and health insurance companies have done: create a distinct ID for a card that gets flashed around a lot?

[Lindsey]

I think they had to change; if memory serves me, it's now federal law.
I think you're right about that, now that you mention it. That's probably the only reason the General Assembly managed to agree on what to do. :cool:

--Lindsey

[Judy G. Russell]

Government works occasionally, when it has no other choice.