Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
Bone to the bad.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, best, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: Browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

User:
Pass:

or Create a new account.


                    Please log in.
If you're not logged in, you can see what this page looks like, but you will not be able to add anything.

Kid Scraping
Using what we've already got to solve an emerging problem.
  (+4, -2)
(+4, -2) 		  [vote for,
against]


One of the more recent trends in identity theft in the US is stealing kids' social security numbers and using them to commit various types of fraud. Since the IRS already collects social security numbers and childrens' ages on tax forms it would be easy enough to scrape that information from their files and build a database of parent-child relationships that credit card companies, banks, etc... could use when verifying things like new accounts and purchases. If a two-year old tried to buy a Lexus you'd know you either had a problem on your hands or a very gifted child. As a special bonus from the government, the parents of children whose ID numbers have had search hits against them could be sent a report once a year showing when the inquiries took place and who made them.
longshot9999, Mar 31 2005


Short name, e.g., Bob's Coffee

Destination URL. E.g., http://www.coffee.com/

Description (displayed with the short name and URL.)







       That's ridiculous! A two-year old wouldn't get approved for the loan on a Lexus ( . . . unless he had a four year old sister to co-sign it.)
contracts, Mar 31 2005
   

       contracts - Just in case you're not from the US and thus not being sarcastic (or someone from outside the US reads your anno and thinks you're serious), when a kid's identity is stolen today they only take the ID number, not the age of the person it belongs to. When they apply for supporting ID numbers or use the ID on the Lexus loan application there's currently no way for the institution they're dealing with to discover an age-related conflict.
longshot9999, Mar 31 2005
   

       <homer simpson speaking> hmmm... Identity fraud eh? BART!? What's your social security number...?</hs>
froglet, Mar 31 2005
   

       Could this idea be extended so that angry ex-girlfriends can't steal your credit card and go out and buy a sofa?
moomintroll, Mar 31 2005
   

       <considering returning the sofa I just bought before I get into trouble with the DA>
Machiavelli, Mar 31 2005
   

       //Kid Scraping //
n. What parents do after their child steps in dog doo.
phundug, Mar 31 2005
   

       I take it that in the US you need any creditcard number together with any id-number and than you get a loan? Over the phone? Or internet? So I can pretend to be you and cause a lot of sh** for you?   

       I cannot stress this enough: the american society seems rotten to core to me. Any idea to counter this gets my bun.
zeno, Mar 31 2005
   

       phundug - I probably shouldn't have used 'scraping' in this case because only those working in the IT industry would catch it as being a derivative of 'screen scraping' (where a program scrapes what shows up on a computer display screen and converts it into a more modern and useful format).
longshot9999, Apr 01 2005
   


 
back: main index
 business 
 computer 
 culture 
 fashion 
 food 
 halfbakery 
 home 
 other 
 product 
 public 
 science 
 sport 
 vehicle