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Three Years in Identity Theft Hell

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Re: Three Years in Identity Theft Hell

#11

Post by sillysaurus3 »

noncoml wrote: post #9
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #3

Counterintuitively, this is evidence that the Equifax breach isn't necessarily going to cause massive harm. If someone wanted to impersonate you, they could already. I remain hopeful that the full list of 140M SSNs will be posted in full. It's a rare opportunity: if that happens, the US will have no choice but to finally switch to a new system. One that doesn't rely on SSNs being private. That's the absurdity. It is…

> Counterintuitively, this is evidence that the Equifax breach isn't necessarily going to cause massive harm. If someone wanted to impersonate you, they could already. This argument doesn't not follow logically. It's like saying you shouldn't lock your house because if somebody really wants to get in, they will do it.

Yes and no. At a certain point, if people keep breaking into our houses, it's a good idea to think about the locks we use.

Re: Three Years in Identity Theft Hell

#12

Post by matz1 »

noncoml wrote: post #9
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #3

Counterintuitively, this is evidence that the Equifax breach isn't necessarily going to cause massive harm. If someone wanted to impersonate you, they could already. I remain hopeful that the full list of 140M SSNs will be posted in full. It's a rare opportunity: if that happens, the US will have no choice but to finally switch to a new system. One that doesn't rely on SSNs being private. That's the absurdity. It is…

> Counterintuitively, this is evidence that the Equifax breach isn't necessarily going to cause massive harm. If someone wanted to impersonate you, they could already. This argument doesn't not follow logically. It's like saying you shouldn't lock your house because if somebody really wants to get in, they will do it.

It does follow. Not locking your house is not going to cause massive harm. If somebody really wants to get in, they will do itm

Re: Three Years in Identity Theft Hell

#13

Post by larvaetron »

noncoml wrote: post #9
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #3

Counterintuitively, this is evidence that the Equifax breach isn't necessarily going to cause massive harm. If someone wanted to impersonate you, they could already. I remain hopeful that the full list of 140M SSNs will be posted in full. It's a rare opportunity: if that happens, the US will have no choice but to finally switch to a new system. One that doesn't rely on SSNs being private. That's the absurdity. It is…

> Counterintuitively, this is evidence that the Equifax breach isn't necessarily going to cause massive harm. If someone wanted to impersonate you, they could already. This argument doesn't not follow logically. It's like saying you shouldn't lock your house because if somebody really wants to get in, they will do it.

It would be analogous to a security breach of a manufacturer's database of keycuts and corresponding locks, not outright refusing to lock your doors.

Re: Three Years in Identity Theft Hell

#14

Post by noncoml »

matz1 wrote: post #12
noncoml wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Counterintuitively, this is evidence that the Equifax breach isn't necessarily going to cause massive harm. If someone wanted to impersonate you, they could already. This argument doesn't not follow logically. It's like saying you shouldn't lock your house because if somebody really wants to get in, they will do it.

It does follow. Not locking your house is not going to cause massive harm. If somebody really wants to get in, they will do itm

I guess you leave your front door open every morning before leaving for work?

Re: Three Years in Identity Theft Hell

#15

Post by noncoml »

larvaetron wrote: post #13
noncoml wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Counterintuitively, this is evidence that the Equifax breach isn't necessarily going to cause massive harm. If someone wanted to impersonate you, they could already. This argument doesn't not follow logically. It's like saying you shouldn't lock your house because if somebody really wants to get in, they will do it.

It would be analogous to a security breach of a manufacturer's database of keycuts and corresponding locks, not outright refusing to lock your doors.

Right. That analogy it more correct, but it doesn't make it follow logically. It's like a someone having the keys and address for each key.

Re: Three Years in Identity Theft Hell

#16

Post by LeifCarrotson »

noncoml wrote: post #9
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #3

Counterintuitively, this is evidence that the Equifax breach isn't necessarily going to cause massive harm. If someone wanted to impersonate you, they could already. I remain hopeful that the full list of 140M SSNs will be posted in full. It's a rare opportunity: if that happens, the US will have no choice but to finally switch to a new system. One that doesn't rely on SSNs being private. That's the absurdity. It is…

> Counterintuitively, this is evidence that the Equifax breach isn't necessarily going to cause massive harm. If someone wanted to impersonate you, they could already. This argument doesn't not follow logically. It's like saying you shouldn't lock your house because if somebody really wants to get in, they will do it.

It does. Locking your house provides some security.

But it would no longer provide security if every person in the country had a copy of your key.

Re: Three Years in Identity Theft Hell

#17

Post by noncoml »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #11
noncoml wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Counterintuitively, this is evidence that the Equifax breach isn't necessarily going to cause massive harm. If someone wanted to impersonate you, they could already. This argument doesn't not follow logically. It's like saying you shouldn't lock your house because if somebody really wants to get in, they will do it.

Yes and no. At a certain point, if people keep breaking into our houses, it's a good idea to think about the locks we use.

That's a different argument, than the one in the first line, to which I completely agree.

Re: Three Years in Identity Theft Hell

#18

Post by fencepost »

sus_007 wrote: post #8

I submitted this like 2 days ago :D https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15247810

Sometimes things get attention and sometimes they don't. Also sometimes it's a slow news weekend and other times there's a ton happening. Don't ever stress about whether your submission gets traction.

Re: Three Years in Identity Theft Hell

#19

Post by [deleted] »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #5
waqf wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the world The United States. I assure you that even though other countries have credit reporting, they do not use SSNs. > will have no choice but to finally switch to a new system. Really? I think they will just carry on unless and until the financial downside (losses from extending bad credit, or lawsuits from identity theft victims, or penalties from the federal government intervening directly) is shown to be rea…

Fixed, thanks. What do you feel are some sensible systems used by the rest of the world? One that's hopefully hard enough to break but easy enough not to cause massive hassles.

[deleted]
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