2008 Woodie Awards
Is Lakeland College enabling identity theft?
Andres Araujo
Issue date: 10/7/04 Section: Opinions
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Lately, we have been bombarded by the media with commercials and propaganda paid and developed by the most prestigious financial institutions about identity theft and how to prevent it.
By identity theft I do not mean the movie "Face Off" where somebody steals your skin and implants it on himself to make people believe that he is you. I mean somebody having access to your bank accounts, your credit cards, credit information or, even worse, using your name and "identity" to commit frauds.
If you think about it, in the long run identity theft could cause you to have huge debts, bad credit, or even send you to jail.
One of the main ways to steal somebody's identity is through his or her Social Security Number. This is how the government keeps track of who you are, where you are, and what you do. It may sound sad, but for the government, when it comes to identity, we are just numbers.
Well, let me tell you, the way the school identifies you and everyone else that goes here is through Social Security Numbers; your Social Security Number is your school I.D. number as well. Through this number the school knows who you are, what classes you're taking, and many other things about you. With so much information stored under your Social Security Number, not only on-campus but off-campus, you would think that if this number is going to be used by the school, it would be kept safe and confidential. Well, it is not.
Your Social Security Number is revealed to your advisor, your professors, and many other people. Sometimes you will even come across class lists that contain your Social Security Number. This could be a risk for everybody. If your Social Security Number gets in the wrong hands you could be paying the price, and trust me, it wont be cheap.
Personally, I think that the safest solution would be to create random numbers to be school I.D. numbers, just like the ones the international students have. Until then, be careful where you write down your school I.D. number and your Social Security Number.
By identity theft I do not mean the movie "Face Off" where somebody steals your skin and implants it on himself to make people believe that he is you. I mean somebody having access to your bank accounts, your credit cards, credit information or, even worse, using your name and "identity" to commit frauds.
If you think about it, in the long run identity theft could cause you to have huge debts, bad credit, or even send you to jail.
One of the main ways to steal somebody's identity is through his or her Social Security Number. This is how the government keeps track of who you are, where you are, and what you do. It may sound sad, but for the government, when it comes to identity, we are just numbers.
Well, let me tell you, the way the school identifies you and everyone else that goes here is through Social Security Numbers; your Social Security Number is your school I.D. number as well. Through this number the school knows who you are, what classes you're taking, and many other things about you. With so much information stored under your Social Security Number, not only on-campus but off-campus, you would think that if this number is going to be used by the school, it would be kept safe and confidential. Well, it is not.
Your Social Security Number is revealed to your advisor, your professors, and many other people. Sometimes you will even come across class lists that contain your Social Security Number. This could be a risk for everybody. If your Social Security Number gets in the wrong hands you could be paying the price, and trust me, it wont be cheap.
Personally, I think that the safest solution would be to create random numbers to be school I.D. numbers, just like the ones the international students have. Until then, be careful where you write down your school I.D. number and your Social Security Number.
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