Comment by njarboe
5 years ago
Every one used to use your social security number instead to uniquely identify people but that was made illegal because of the many problems this caused. But company's want a unique identifier for people. Now that everyone has cell phones people never change their phone number so it is a great unique identifier that is legal to use. Not enough edge cases, yet, like yours too worry about. Maybe it will be made illegal in the future.
It's never been made illegal to use, or even ask for, an SSN.
You can refuse to provide it (unless it's required for tax/employment purposes) but whoever's asking can then just refuse to transact with you.
Thanks for the info. I guess I remembered when companies stopped printing out social security numbers on everything (badges, informational letters, etc.) and using them generally due to, probably, this California law[1].
[1]https://www.kmm.com/articles-195.html