Hailey Amato
Staff Writer
In the late 16th century, William Shakespeare wrote in “Othello,” “But he that filches from me my good name/Robs me of that which not enriches him/And makes me poor indeed.”
Did Shakespeare know that identity fraud would be a rapidly growing problem today? It’s doubtful, but in the 2002 calendar year alone, 218,714 cases of identity fraud were reported to the United States Federal Trade Commission. In the face of this growing problem, the public is advised to take greater measures to ensure the protection of personal information, including social security numbers.
The new campus-wide ID cards, issued to all students at the beginning of the fall semester, are a major step for students’ security here at Pepperdine. The new cards serve the same purpose as the old, but instead of having a student’s social security number, scannable by bar code, the cards each contain a randomly assigned eight-digit ID number.
Pepperdine started discussing alternative possibilities to using the social security number in 2002 after the California Senate passed a bill limiting the use of the social security numbers, according to Associate Vice President and University Registrar Hung Le.
“Across the country, regulations about social security numbers were being implemented because of identity fraud and theft,” Le said. “Even President Bush is talking about it. At state and national levels the government is stepping in.”
This summer another bill was passed by the California Assembly, amending the previous bill. Bill 763 says that social security numbers can no longer be imbedded into any magnetic strips or barcodes.
“I brought this to the attention of the Information Technology Advisory Committee,” said Le, who took action mid-summer. “We decided that we needed to change for the students. We needed to make sure the students were top priority.”
The University then stepped into high gear to create the new campus-wide ID cards by the time school started. The new cards have all the same capabilities of the old ID cards but do not carry with them the danger of identity fraud.
Students’ social security numbers are still necessary for some things like accessing financial aid and anything to do with taxes. While your social security number can still key up the system if necessary, it will never be visible. Le encouraged students to memorize their new number and use their new cards in the cafeteria and at Convocation. In most places where students were previously using their social security number, the new campus-wide ID number should work instead. Old cards should be destroyed immediately, he said.
“Identity theft is not just here at Pepperdine,” Le said. “We didn’t issue these cards because of instances or problems here. Students should not be overly worried, but they need to know that identity theft is a national problem and it is important to protect their personal information.”
09-09-2004