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<tr><td><b>Comment Number: </b></td><td>531096-00062</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Received: </b></td><td>8/4/2007 3:53:36 PM</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Organization: </b></td><td></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Commenter: </b></td><td>Durling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>State: </b></td><td>CA</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Agency: </b></td><td>Federal Trade Commission</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rule: </b></td><td>Private Sector Use of SSNs</td></tr>

<tr><td>No Attachments</td></tr></Table>

<hr><P><b>Comments:</b></p>I think that any company that allows an account to be opened by someone committing identity theft should be held liable. Using a SSN as proof that someone opened an account is ridiculous. 


I think the only way to fight any of this is with the use of biometrics for identity verification. An example would be when someone opens a bank account. That person would be required to give a biometric submission such as a fingerprint. Then if the question of &quot;who opened the account&quot; ever came up, one could show that one did not open the account with by using one's own fingerprint as proof. You can see how SSN's fail in this respect. You can steal a SSN but you can't steal a fingerprint, at least yet. Things may need to come down to a retina scan and a photo ID, or perhaps even a DNA test just to open an account somewhere. Whatever it is, using one's SSN is quickly becoming outdated, and even dangerous.</body></html>