Of course I know what they are and their importance but Im a mid-30’s millennial and after having not even seen these documents in over a decade, my mother who recently moved mailed me my copies, of course reminding me to put them in a safe place. My question is: how, in this world, do we still place so much importance on the original paper documents (not a copy) and how is it possible that any keen info-gatherer cant and hasnt already gotten hold of a 9-digit number.
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The idea is that a birth certificate should never be in someone else’s possession, and replacing it requires confirmation of the person’s identity.
Likewise a social security card is used for similar purposes since it provides proof that you are known to the social security administration. Oh and it has a number which should be unique to you alone.
Yes, there are only so many 9 digit numbers. It’s not a unique cryptographic key.
The SS card and birth certificate are official government documents. There are functions, like issuing RealID compliant drivers licenses or passports, which require these actual documents. Not your memory of a 9-digit number, as it’s not the number that’s important, but the actual government issued scrap of paper.
Do you think a $100 bill is worth something? It’s also just a government issued scrap of paper (actually linen) with a number nobody every checks on it.
If you present a counterfeit SS card, you can get into a huge amount of trouble, it’s a fraud against the US Government. They have lots of police and lawyers and no sense of humor about this sort of thing. It’s not that the card is hard to fake, though they are harder to fake than they once were, it’s that the penalty for making a fake card and using it as ID is huge.
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