IP: Slack goes when California DMV gains access to SSA database: [risks] Risks Digest 21.36 [look at end djf]

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 16:25:02 -0400
> From: eweise <eweise () usatoday com>
> Subject: Slack goes when California DMV gains access to SSA database
>
> Apparently the California DMV gained access to the computerized database of
> the Social Security Administration at the beginning of the year.  Sometime
> in February or March the DMV began bouncing back all requests to renew
> drivers licenses in which the name given did not exactly match the name in
> the SSA computers.
>
> I learned of this the day my license expired when I attempted to renew it
> and was told that because my Social Security number was issued under the
> name Beth back in the 1960s, according to the DMV I was attempting to
> defraud the government "and possibly engaged in identity theft" by
> attempting to get a drivers license under the name Elizabeth Weise--despite
> the fact that the State of California has accorded me a drivers license
> under that name for eight years now.
>
> A call to the Social Security Administration confirmed that since the DMV
> was given the ability to hook directly into the SSA's computers, they've
> been flooded with Robert-Bob's, Richard-Dicks's and Alex-Alexander's who
> are all being told they can't renew their licenses until they officially
> change their names. For the record, the clerk at the SSA told me "We
> understand that Beth and Elizabeth are the same person and it doesn't
> bother us, but the DMV won't let it by any more." To fix this one must
> personally go to an SSA office and have them change their official record.
>         The identification they require?
>         A California drivers license.
>
> Elizabeth Weise, Technology Reporter, USA Today Life Section
> 2912 Diamond St. #407, San Francisco CA 94131 415/452-8741 eweise () usatoday com



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