Originally Posted by wco81

That should be the way to go, something tokenized so that you can give out randomized credentials out of your phone or from a website each time you apply for a cell phone account, cable account, credit card, etc.

Anything that requires a social security number now would be replaced with this new ID credentials.

Maybe the way to get around it is to make it opt-in and not require the national ID number for anything essential. For instance, you'd be able to register to vote, get a passport or apply using this new national ID but it wouldn't be the only way to identify yourself. It would be an additional way.

The only stick they might apply might be that if you get hacked and your social security number is used to rob you, you would have liability as long as you had the option to use this national ID instead.

Of course the govt. would have to build up a system to issue and then authenticate this national ID, each time you used it to get credit of some kind, apply for a job, apply for a driver's license, etc.