government issued identification number

government issued identification number

The Importance and Implications of Government-Issued Identification Numbers

1. Introduction to Government-Issued Identification Numbers

The numerous opportunities to easily fraudulently obtain government identification numbers suggest that policymakers should both rigorously evaluate and effectively and efficiently organize these regimes. Policymakers should consider the incentives that SSN, EIN, and other regimes and collaborative regulatory, state, and private enforcement approaches provide for various relevant noncompliance choices, as circumstances evolve. Policymakers should ensure that independently administratively feasible enforcement measures do develop. Policymakers should ensure that enforcement measures that appear feasible do actually work as intended, because feasible deterrence measures may sometimes prove administratively impracticable before they are implemented, and some measures that appear feasible sometimes fail to work precisely as intended after they are implemented. Policymakers also should ensure that enforcement costs are efficient, in terms of both the cost per act of evasion effectively deterred and the sum of these costs.

In the United States, government-issued identification numbers are used in a complex array of regulatory and other contexts. For example, workers and employers usually must obtain Social Security numbers (SSNs), which are used to report earnings and impose and withhold federal employment taxes. A host of other federal identification numbers may now be required for business, tax, and information-reporting needs, including employer-identification numbers (EINs) for certain entities and tax-identification numbers (TINs) for non-U.S. individuals who must file U.S. tax returns or obtain tax-exempt benefits. Various states issue identification numbers for other purposes, such as reporting wages paid to an employee outside the state of his residence, which may affect the employee’s income tax liability. The potential for unreported earned income, unreported work-related injuries, unlawful employment, and participation in the “shadow” economy all increase the potential for fraudulent identification-related claims for various federal and state benefits, which provide incentives for workers to fraudulently obtain government-issued identification numbers.

2. The Role of Government-Issued Identification Numbers in Society

Organizations across the world issue unique numbers to individuals for identification and verification purposes. Government-issued identification numbers (GIINs) are used in all professional industries and are an integral part of both national and global infrastructure. GIINs take many different forms but share common characteristics. They identify individuals and provide identifying information distinct to each world resident, country, residence status, and exchanged product. GIINs are also linked to a national identification number, authentication token, or national identifiers owned by government bodies. This paper discusses the main characteristics of GIINs, key application areas, and why they have become essential in both public and private sector administration. The paper convenes stakeholders approved to help maintain public administration, verify identity, and affirm goal value through government identity processes.

3. Security and Privacy Concerns Surrounding Government-Issued Identification Numbers

One of the rationales for proposing the establishment of a government-issued identification number is to focus on the security and privacy concerns that a social security number (SSN) and/or a date of birth (DoB) on all citizens raises. The problem that a government-issued identification number is designed to alleviate is the fact that at the present time, everyone’s SSN and/or DoB is known, potentially by everyone they come into contact with, whether in person or over the Internet. Knowing these two pieces of information can be used by those with access to it to do everything from pattern manipulation to identity theft. In this instance, anonymization can help protect sensitive information that identifies the individual it was collected from. The notion is that rather than be forced to use one’s SSN, one is identified in government (and financial) transactions and when using the Internet for financial transactions by a number different from one’s SSN, preserving one’s privacy and identity.

4. Technological Advancements and the Future of Government-Issued Identification Numbers

Given the already established extensive use of current government-issued identification numbers in day-to-day business, there are very high costs associated with replacing these numbers. Moreover, the privacy attributed to unique, biometric identifiers provides less value to some people than the fact that such a high level of security was enforced by the government using a current identification number. In this paper, I identify the meanings and uses of various existing government-issued identification numbers, as well as compare existing technological options for a more secure and protective technology. It is important that informed debate occur on what level of privacy is adequate. This paper equips stakeholders in such a debate with a better understanding of what is possible, and at what cost.

Government-issued identification numbers have been the basis of identification in this country for many years. However, due to recent advances in technology, laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and extensive regulations as a result of September 11th, the security and sensitivity of government-issued identification numbers has become a greatly debated topic across the nation. These numbers are critical to not only publicly and privately funded programs, but also to the individuals directly impacted by these programs. Technological advancements do now allow for more efficiently distributed unique identifiers such as fingerprints, voice patterns, and retinal scans which offer a much higher level of privacy protection and provide much more control to the individual.

5. Conclusion and Recommendations for the Use of Government-Issued Identification Numbers

As a result, the numbers have become common features in many digital and other records—used for both governmental management and societal activities. The numbers are deployed to represent and manage a wide diversity of entities and aspects. For myriad good reasons, governments have increasingly been embedding these numbers into standard government-issued identification documents, which are increasingly required to gain access to many traditionally public places and services and to function in modern society. Such conditions require that vital qualities and properties attach to these numbers, as represented in the government-issued identification documents. The need for clear, concise, and readily implementable rules to manage the use of these documents has given rise to a vast supporting ecosystem of regulations, laws, practices, standard tools, and technologies. Government-issued identification numbers play significant roles in driving the performance, security, and stability of these systems, their use, and related societal systems.

For many good reasons, central governments and other entities around the world have been creating and issuing unique, digital numbers to identify people, businesses, and other entities. Issuers have adopted a variety of number formats, using letters and digits as appropriate. Governments at various levels have increasingly adopted and incorporated these numbers into predominantly digital and other records that support many critical societal functions. The numbers have become part of the infrastructure on which modern life and governance rely. They play major roles in many important policy fields – such as security, banking, health, voting, taxes, and transportation. There are many important and practical reasons to do so. The volume and complexity of high stakes interactions among such entities have grown to the point where government-issued numbers have become essential tools for the effective utilization of information technology, acting as an organizing scaffold for managing the complexity of digital information infrastructures.