IDEA: parasitic trust & identity. In the US for a long while there wasn't a...
IDEA: parasitic trust & identity. In the US for a long while there wasn't a nice unique identifier for everyone, EXCEPT Social Security. So everyone began using that for trust, identity, disambiguation. Social security numbers do not
- have check digits
- cryptographic signatures
- claims
Successful because it was better than the other options (i.e nothing).
Self-replies
Social Security Agency never promoted themselves as identity or trust. Their system was used without coordination.