Eric Obenzinger | Protecting our identities

If unwanted porn and five plasma TVs show up on your credit card bill this month, some creep has probably stolen your Social Security Number.

But even the most vigilant person can lose control over who has access to that number.

As databases have gone digital, it's become convenient to track people with a consistent identifier.

This means that more institutions are asking for your SSN.

Some undergraduates participating in On Campus Recruiting this fall were asked for their full SSNs on first-round interview applications or employment aptitude tests.

While you eventually have to provide your SSN to an employer to receive payment or undergo a background check, it is usually not needed until the end of the recruitment process. Students who did not want to needlessly divulge their SSN found themselves in a difficult position.

"During the interview process, the power rests with the interviewer, not with the student," said Career Services Director Patricia Rose.

Students currently participating in OCR were so afraid to "make waves and be perceived as a trouble maker" that no one I spoke with agreed to go on the record.

Several Penn alumni were more willing to talk about their recruiting. Some, such as Wharton 2006 grad Carl Zhao said that, "some of the companies had online applications that used SSNs for signing in."

Rose said that the issue has just recently started to concern students. As there is no formal policy to date, she is consulting with her professional association. In the meantime, Rose suggests that students give the last four digits of their SSN until a company needs the full number.

While Career Services can quickly change student privacy policies, the university-wide situation is more complicated.

For example, the estimated 64 percent of undergraduates receiving financial aid have their SSNs filed with Student Financial Services. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act mandates that a university maintain these records for students with outstanding debts. However, it does not require that the university destroy information such as SSNs after a certain period of time.

According to William Schilling, a Senior Director at Financial Services, his department holds detailed student records dating back to the 1980s.

Although Penn stopped printing SSNs on PennCards in 1997, they do request them on admissions applications. Given persistent concerns, Penn set up a task force on student privacy in 2000.

Many of the committee's recommendations were implemented, but there are still problems. While most undergraduate business can be conducted exclusively with your PennCard, many students think that SSNs are needed.

This is because many department administrators ask for student SSNs when making changes to transcripts or requirements.

"Administrators should not be asking for a Social Security Number," said mathematics professor Gerald Porter, chairman of the privacy task force. "Administrators should be asking for their Penn ID number."

The goal of the university should not only be to minimize access to student SSNs. Penn must seek to eliminate student SSNs from its records whenever practically and legally feasible.

For example, the University should at least delete the SSNs of alumni who have no outstanding debts.

The University should also try to persuade organizations such as the College Board to move away from using SSNs to identify students.

"We asked that the University use its position to persuade these organizations to not rely on SSNs," Porter said. "I don't believe that's happened."

Unfortunately, it usually takes serious breaches to encourage progress on privacy issues.

In the past year, a number of major companies have lost databases with names, addresses and SSNs due to theft or simple negligence. These institutions - including the Department of Veteran Affairs, Hewlett-Packard, Equifax and Vermont State College - lost the trust of employees, customers or students.

At this point, the best way to protect your security is to be a bit of a jerk: when people ask for your full SSN, demand to know why and prepare to refuse. Being stingy with your SSN is far preferable to spending years restoring your credit.

Eric Obenzinger is a College senior from New York City. His e-mail address is obenzinger@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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