Corporate SINs appear to be around the corner. In my case, I already have one (albeit without extraterritoriality). As it turns out the Fortune 500 company I work for had a scare a while back when a 3rd party health care provider had a laptop stolen and compromised about 200 Social Security Numbers (SSN). The company has started to roll out a new nine digit number for use in all things corporate. The name: Provisional ID. It has already replaced my SSN for inside the fence and is now - for all intents and purposes - my SSN for my corporate issued credit card. They are lobbying the health care providers to use it in place of the SSN but most haven't broke down yet. I figure it's only a matter of time.

Just thought that I would share.

Just one more step on that all too slippery slope.

Issuing administration numbers for employees is in fact a new idea for US companies? That's been common procedure here in Germany for decades...

Ah the amulet of unemployment protection.

Yeah, too late for me to have that now.

We've been numbered, filed & sorted here for decades too. Usually they just use your social security number, or the first/last X numbers of it.

Funny... when I worked for an oil refinery they basically had "SINs" issued to every employee. Not all that new considering we were supposed to use that instead of our SS numbers.

i can see why, as numbers are much more personal then names...

hell, i wonder when we will get barcodes based on our genes as basis for things like this...

But what if I like wearing black or blue jeans? Would my bar code number have to constantly change to reflect this?

I hope not, my barcode would be "Factory Reject"!

Various university systems in the U.S. are working on this as well. I've worked for two major U.S. Universities (one private and one public) and both of them are working through the growing pains of assigning a new 9 digit number to everyone to use internally instead of SSNs.

"I am not a number, I am a FREE MAN!"

*Insane Laughing*

In the U.S. there's actually some law that says universities (and maybe other companies too, I don't know) have to stop identifying students by their SSNs, which is why I was recently issued a new University ID number. My university is actually way past their deadline for switching to the new numbers, which is why they're scrambling to get everything working now.

I'm guessing these numbers are still about as secret as SSNs, yes? So you still can't introduce yourself as 456-806-5521, nor can you have an ID card with that printed, although I suppose you can write it on your underwear.

I think it is more like "We have your genome so you can't lie about who you are for the most part" a la Gatica. Although I know the California Universities have for the most part switched to student pin numbers. If you lost your card you could still use your student ID number to get into the meal hall.

Anyways if I had a bar code I would have it read as


Sure, Not


Bonus karma for whoever knows where that comes from..... one of the funniest movies ever.

I think you might be giving Idiocracy a little too much credit, but I'll admit, it was funny.

It's one of those movies where you have to see it with a group of people for the first time. Alone it is decent, but with a ton of people watching it for the first time we almost died from laughing so hard. = )

Yeah, I can understand that.
edit: trimmed quote for clarity

I know that in University of Georgia, their cafeterias have hand print readers for people rather than cards.

As for the corporate SIN, I've been issued my employee ID number by my employer for almost 10 years now, nothing new.

The new part for me is using it as my SSN for my corporate credit card. The card isn't even owned by the company.

I've had an employee number for years as well; however, this is the first time I have had a nine-digit number in place of my SSN.

that would depend on how its expected to be used.

as i have learned, there are two ways to use these numbers.

1. identifier: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identifier

2. authenticator: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authenticator

only the last one needs to be secret, as the knowledge of it verifies who you are. its a secret handshake or pin number. basically something only the correct person should know.

this may also help explain how to use a SIN in sr depending on whats going on.

if your buying something or showing id to security, they will probably only try to match your biological data (or a known only to you secret, like a pin) vs whats on file under whatever SIN your presenting. if those two match, your most likely (nothing is ever 100%) who you claim to be.

now, if they instead would run the biological data as a unknown, and try to match it to any and all SIN holders, things could get a bit more interesting. but that would be time consuming if all your doing is buying something from stuffer shack or unlocking some office door.

edit:

err, i may have not been fully clear just now. thing about the SIN in the example about is that its just an identifier, or as the wikipedia article say, a name. the biological data is the authenticator part. the part that verifies that your the person who the SIN/name belongs to.

now if we where to go a bit further on that name thing, think about your own name. its probably at least two parts, one your personal name, and the other your family name. that family name are a kind of link to a source of authentication in a local community. by knowing both, someone can locate some relative and authenticate who you are. the personal name on the other hand is a identifier within that family.