I am Canadian who travels to the USA quite a lot, enough for it to make sense for me to purchase an Air Card where I can surf the web in the US from where ever. The $60 I pay a month for the service is cheaper than what I would pay monthly in airports, hotels,  Starbucks etc…

When I went sign up for the AirCard, I had a heck of a time, first I am Canadian, 2nd I dont have credit history with ATT, and 3rd I dont have an Social Security Number. The SSN was really the main issue because ATT was willing to sell me whatever I wanted and sign me up in a contract if I was willing to pay $500 upfront (which i happily did, I understand). But boy it took almost 3 hours and many calls to head office to figure out how to bypass the system and sell to someone without a SSN.

I had problems with my AirCard, and called ATT customer service, and you know this is normal for all big companies you get forwarded around from one department to the other to sort things out. That i expected and it did not bug me, what bugged me was that  every time I was passed around, the first question was, what is you SSN. MY SSN? to get tech support? MY SSN to get ATT to trouble shoot a problem come on, and every time I had a hard time because I did not have an SSN.

There has to be a better way. I know what works in Europe may not work in Canada, and what works for Canada does not work for the US, but… There is no way anyone in Europe will give out their SSN equivalent to get tech support. In Canada, there is no way, you will get asked for your SIN (SSN equivalent) to get service, as a matter of fact, in Canada new privacy laws (PIPEDA) stipulate that you dont even have to give your SIN for anything including credit application (except for tax purposed). The law states that there is other ways for verifying someone credit worthiness. As a matter of fact, if a company asks you for SIN, you have the right to deny, and they do not have the right to reject your application on that basis.

I believe its time for the US to move to a system similar to PIPEDA in Canada where simple service can be achieved without handing anyone your most personal information. A SSN is not to be taken lightly, but these days more people are asking for it and I am affraid many just give it up. I think the public will be on board, i conducted a small survey, and 86% of the respondents either indicated that they refuse to give their SSN or are uncomfortable with it.

There is a better way. but who will lead the way?