U.S. military members' personal data being sold by online brokers • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. military members' personal data being sold by online brokers

#11

Post by dragonwriter » Tue, Nov 07, 2023, 6:47 PM UTC

tczMUFlmoNk wrote: post #7

user3939382 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be used for your social security account and nothing else.

Huh. As a member of a generation that has grown up tacitly understanding that social security will very likely be insolvent/cancelled by the time that we're old enough to qualify for it, and thus we shouldn't rely on it whatsoever—it's surreal to consciously connect these two concepts. For me, "social security number" is just the name for the ID number that so many of us have and are used to writing everywhere. The n…

> As a member of a generation that has grown up tacitly understanding that social security will very likely be insolvent/cancelled by the time that we're old enough to qualify for it

Is it “tacitly understanding” when you've been bathed your whole life in active propaganda promoting an idea? Because, on this, if you are in any cohort from Gen X, or maybe the trailing edge of thr Boomers, on, you have been.

Re: U.S. military members' personal data being sold by online brokers

#12

Post by jklinger410 » Tue, Nov 07, 2023, 6:54 PM UTC

I heard this on NPR and I appreciate the avenue by which the red flag is being raised, but it bothers the shit out of me, because EVERYONE'S personal data is being sold by online brokers.

The implication that their data is more important or something just seems like a ploy to get more eyeballs on the research.

Re: U.S. military members' personal data being sold by online brokers

#13

Post by randombits0 » Tue, Nov 07, 2023, 7:01 PM UTC

jcadam wrote: post #3

I'm sure the military still has a SSN field on EVERY. SINGLE. FORM. they have you fill out while you're in the service. There was talk of replacing that with a "service number" but somehow I doubt they've got around to it yet. Between VA employees leaving laptops full of PII laying around and that big OPM leak several years ago, I apparently have no private life.

Chinese hackers stole over 70 million records of current/past military members from the Office of Management and Budget back in April of 2014.

Re: U.S. military members' personal data being sold by online brokers

#14

Post by _yo2u » Tue, Nov 07, 2023, 7:07 PM UTC

jklinger410 wrote: post #12

I heard this on NPR and I appreciate the avenue by which the red flag is being raised, but it bothers the shit out of me, because EVERYONE'S personal data is being sold by online brokers. The implication that their data is more important or something just seems like a ploy to get more eyeballs on the research.

Sometimes that is all that is needed to move the needle. Tik tok almost moved it but that just made certain swaths of the political spectrum ask for a direct ban (with other downsides eg. 1st amendment concerns) instead of overarching policy reform.

"Policymakers should consider the following steps:

Congress should pass a comprehensive U.S. privacy law, with strong controls on the data brokerage ecosystem. The most effective step to prevent harms from data brokerage for all Americans would be a strong, comprehensive privacy law."

Re: U.S. military members' personal data being sold by online brokers

#15

Post by kube-system » Tue, Nov 07, 2023, 7:09 PM UTC

LtWorf wrote: post #4

jcadam wrote: post #3

I'm sure the military still has a SSN field on EVERY. SINGLE. FORM. they have you fill out while you're in the service. There was talk of replacing that with a "service number" but somehow I doubt they've got around to it yet. Between VA employees leaving laptops full of PII laying around and that big OPM leak several years ago, I apparently have no private life.

The problem is treating the SSN as a username and a password. It should not be the only information required to authenticate people.

The government doesn't do this though, it's mostly banks that are guilty.

Re: U.S. military members' personal data being sold by online brokers

#16

Post by jcadam » Tue, Nov 07, 2023, 7:13 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #11

tczMUFlmoNk wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh. As a member of a generation that has grown up tacitly understanding that social security will very likely be insolvent/cancelled by the time that we're old enough to qualify for it, and thus we shouldn't rely on it whatsoever—it's surreal to consciously connect these two concepts. For me, "social security number" is just the name for the ID number that so many of us have and are used to writing everywhere. The n…

> As a member of a generation that has grown up tacitly understanding that social security will very likely be insolvent/cancelled by the time that we're old enough to qualify for it Is it “tacitly understanding” when you've been bathed your whole life in active propaganda promoting an idea? Because, on this, if you are in any cohort from Gen X, or maybe the trailing edge of thr Boomers, on, you have been.

Nah, we'll get our SS checks - the Fed will turn the money printer up to 11 if they have to cover the program.

Inflation will make them worthless, but we'll get our checks :)

Re: U.S. military members' personal data being sold by online brokers

#17

Post by kube-system » Tue, Nov 07, 2023, 7:17 PM UTC

jklinger410 wrote: post #12

I heard this on NPR and I appreciate the avenue by which the red flag is being raised, but it bothers the shit out of me, because EVERYONE'S personal data is being sold by online brokers. The implication that their data is more important or something just seems like a ploy to get more eyeballs on the research.

More specific statements can be more impactful to the listener.

"Everyone's car is getting stolen these days" ... "Yeah, isn't that crazy? What are ya gonna do?"

"Your car is getting stolen right now" ... "Wait, what!?!?"

I think people really just write off the scale and scope of data privacy in this country as "yeah, sounds bad, but since it's happening to everyone there's nothing I can do about it"

Re: U.S. military members' personal data being sold by online brokers

#18

Post by dragonwriter » Tue, Nov 07, 2023, 7:23 PM UTC

jcadam wrote: post #16

dragonwriter wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As a member of a generation that has grown up tacitly understanding that social security will very likely be insolvent/cancelled by the time that we're old enough to qualify for it Is it “tacitly understanding” when you've been bathed your whole life in active propaganda promoting an idea? Because, on this, if you are in any cohort from Gen X, or maybe the trailing edge of thr Boomers, on, you have been.

Nah, we'll get our SS checks - the Fed will turn the money printer up to 11 if they have to cover the program. Inflation will make them worthless, but we'll get our checks :)

SS benefits are indexed to a wage index (which has been greater than inflation consistently since thr mid-1980s) over working life and to inflation from retirement on.

Cranking the money printer just drives up nominal social security benefits to compensate (for current retires) or more (because easy money drives higher wages).

Re: U.S. military members' personal data being sold by online brokers

#19

Post by QuarterReptile » Tue, Nov 07, 2023, 7:24 PM UTC

jklinger410 wrote: post #12

I heard this on NPR and I appreciate the avenue by which the red flag is being raised, but it bothers the shit out of me, because EVERYONE'S personal data is being sold by online brokers. The implication that their data is more important or something just seems like a ploy to get more eyeballs on the research.

Yeah, I thought this was about the sale of data that had been collected by the military on a compulsory basis; this article is not news.

I clicked through because I wanted to see whether the data was health info or OPM breach data.

Re: U.S. military members' personal data being sold by online brokers

#20

Post by akira2501 » Tue, Nov 07, 2023, 7:24 PM UTC

jklinger410 wrote: post #12

I heard this on NPR and I appreciate the avenue by which the red flag is being raised, but it bothers the shit out of me, because EVERYONE'S personal data is being sold by online brokers. The implication that their data is more important or something just seems like a ploy to get more eyeballs on the research.

Service members are uniquely vulnerable. They are employed by the government which makes them a target of hostile foreign powers, and they're often ordered to give away their personal information while in service often out of habit and not out any genuine need to have the service members SSN.