Comment SSN 'safety' is insane, but it's not about the ID (Score 1) 234
Here in the US, we have government issued IDs. And they're required for plenty of things, especially in person. We don't have the Post Office as part of the system you're referring to, but that's not the biggest problem.
The problem is that there's no possible way to even reasonably verify whether a moron is who they think they are online without having already laid some groundwork. (Like mailing something to prove address) Anything they can know, someone else can know. And as a parent mentioned, the skip-tracing people have AT LEAST as much information as a major credit card you just applied for - available for a couple $.
And the credit reporting agencies and credit companies here want you to be able to get drunk and call up and apply for a credit card and get instant gratification for it with no verification whatsoever...
They ought to have to at least mail you something at the address on your credit report and call you at the phone number on your credit report. If the credit reporting agency wants to do that and setup a secret PIN with you, you could share that secret with a credit card company...
They DO mail your PINs out, so you can't take too much direct cash from a fraudulent app - you can only buy an infinite quantity of goods. So that proves they know how to keep it safe - they just don't value ensuring that you're the right person to give credit to... because the incentives aren't in place.