Re: Bare Social Social Security Numbers--thanks

["Geoffrey S. Nathan" <geoffnathan () WAYNE EDU>]

I would like to thank everyone who has contributed so far to this
fascinating discussion.  I had not expected the blizzard of responses
that it occasioned, and I very much appreciate everyone's input (and I'm
sure all of us learned something in the process).
I cross-posted to the Security and to the ICPL listservs, and there were
responses on both (it does, after all, impinge on both).
We here at Wayne have, at least tentatively, come down on the
conservative side of treating any unique identifier as potentially
damaging if leaked.  As one of the members on my committee said, 'Which
would you rather do--explain to those whose data was released that it
was just a bare social security number, or explain to the press why you
didn't tell the owners of those numbers that the data was released?'

Geoff

Geoffrey S. Nathan <geoffnathan () wayne edu>
Faculty Liaison, Computing and Information Technology,
                 and Associate Professor of English
Linguistics Program                 Phone Numbers
Department of English               Computing and Information Technology:   (313) 577-1259
Wayne State University              Linguistics (English):   (313) 577-8621
Detroit, MI, 48202                  IT Fax: (313) 577-1338