That's great, but do you trust a random researcher or an actual publication from the Social Security Administration? If you actually click the link I provided, you would see:

SSA Publication No. 05-10002

Right up top.

Yep.

Non-citizens/non-legal residents are issued a special card, so the SSA absolutely tracks this with the social security number. This is why when you apply for a job, you need to have your SS card so HR can verify your citizenship/employment eligibility status.

I think you need to ease off your own meds if you think that's a personal attack Doc. 

The "random researchers" are from Carnegie-Mellon. That's pretty reputable. They are peer reviewed, as well. I do trust what they wrote, Annatar11.

I did read the publication. Honestly? From what I know? I trust the SSA very little if at all.

Google has always been open about what they store and how they store it and how it will be used.

People that use any search engine (and many other web sites) trade data for services.

If you don't think the trade is fair, don't use the service.

But . . don't think that there is some big conspiracy to steal your data and use it maliciously.  It will be used to profit whoever is offering the service . . . the same as it's always been.

Will the last four digits of a SSN profit Google?  I really don't see how.  It's not the type of data that they can sell or use.  The other pieces of information on that form are far more useful for marketing purposes and their business is marketing/advertising.

Zu...it's not a 'big conspiracy' at all...it's a Business Model.

Google wants to be the biggest player [and they are] so [again with the 1984] Big Brother IS watching....

Let's see them grow a pair and NOT bow down to pressure from China to alter reality.

Let's see truth outweigh profit.

That'd be nice.

Are they really "open and honest"? Really? I doubt they share their usage plans openly. Maybe about some things, bu about all?

"Big conspiracy"? No. "Business plan"? Yes.  "Maliciously"? Well, who's to decide what that really means? Profit in and of itself is not "malicious". If it means "to my detriment"? Perhaps. Once they've got it, well what they'll do now and in 5 years are different. Who knows...that's a far cry from "For my good", though, isn't it? People have different standrds for that.

By generating that person's SSN. That is marketable, commercially. Information is simply that. You can see how it can be deduced by:

"You see, what Google knows (and many parents don't know) is that a person's city of birth and year of birth can be used to make a statistical guess about the first five digits of his/her social security number. 

“Part of the security problem lies with the method used to assign SSNs. The researchers note that only four digits of the nine digit SSN are random. The first three digits are called the Area Number (AN) and the next two are the Group Number (GN). ANs are allocated to specific states and GNs to specific birth years. Given the date of birth and place of birth, researchers need only guess at the final four digits.”

See?

And if that weren't, yours certainly is.

As to being open and honest about what they collect . . http://www.google.com/privacy/privacy-policy.html  It seems pretty clear.  They collect everything you send them .. and they use it to make their business.

I find the slant of the original post interesting though . . not really news, an opinion piece with research. Fair and balanced?  I think not.  

Yah.  You should see the Private Message he sent me.  I can't show you, because it's a Private Message.  But it seemed a bit whiny. (that's an opinion doc, not a personal attack)  He really took offense to my posting a link to this topic while he was working up his well researched and very informative post, which I had no idea he was doing.  And then he sent the Private Message when I jokingly posted "FIRST! " (see that smiley, that was meant to be a joking smiley doc).  But whatever, you're a MOD and can do and say whatever the frak you want. 

Huh. 

I thought I saw a post here.  Even thought I read it.  Now it's gone.  Odd.

Forum posts tend to go where they will.  Controlling what people say and how they say it and who they say it to tends to discourage the full exchange of ideas that WC has been known for.

As an aside: WC Terms of Service

At the end of the day, we will all go about believing what we want to, worrying about and identifying who the 'bad' and 'good' guys are at times just gets in the way and making it through the day.  Really, I wake up in the morning with one thought, getting through the day. 

That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it. 

Hate to tell you folks, but you are both right!  The middle 2 digits originally did not mean anything.  They were sequence numbers as Annatar stated.  But since most people got them at the same time (when they started working around 16 or 17), they came to mean something.  The problem was in the thinking.  1930s thinking about the complexities of numbers has been outstripped by the 21st century and mega (now even giga) computing on the desk top.  In otherwords, while there was no "assignment" of the 2 numbers, the mere fact they were in a sequence meant that they could and have been figured out.

Now does that mean the middle 2 numbers are related to birth years?  Again, we have to remember the history of the SS number.  Back in the day, you only got one when you had wages to report.  So for some, that was 16, for others that was 31!  And still others, that was 5 or 6.

Then in 1990, the law was changed so that you had to get one within a year of birth!  So since then, the middle 2 numbers do. ANd before then, they kind of do (in that if you assume 16ish for when it was issued, you are going to be more right than wrong).  But they never were tied with a year.  Still are not if you are an immigrant.

Thanks for tolerating an old fool.

Defending Google? Really?

Did they post ANY where that their Street View cars would be collecting passwords and emails? I might  have missed it. Let me know where it is cause I am dying to read the reason WHY they needed to do this.  Seems to me that a majority of the time Google and Information collection comes up they are admitting to it after the fact. As to where all this info goes, it's used to attract clients, advertisers, etc. They don't have to share it, they just have to say 'we got it' and make it so the advertisers can use that info to their advantage.

As to what they will do with it in the near or distant future.... they will run your life. They will tell you what clothes to buy, wear, and when to wear them. What coffe to buy, how to brew it....what episode of Iron Chef you don't need to see....that it's time for your annual prostate exam....that your girlfreind was at 'that' guys house until 3AM but the girl in the cube at work next to you just got dumped by her fiance....

And you can't stop it without disconnecting yourself from the internet. 

THis will be done for one purpose and one purpose only...to make a profit.  The government will allow it because they can't afford to do it themselves and no one would stand for another J.Edgar Hoover. It's much easier and cheaper to let someone else do it and then take control of it when needed.

The great On/Off switch....'One Ring To Rule Them All'.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

You will either be part of it or you will have to 'underground'. Lifehacker posted a great article on building your own portable Pirate Wifi Hotspot. Better read up

I'm not going to go on one of my usual Google rants here!

Instead I'm just going to say this....

While some people may think that Google is not evil, I do.

Of that I have no doubt

Um...

One Google to rule them, One Google to find them

One Google to enslave them all and on the internet define them.