Why Does AT&T Need My Social Security Number to Connect My iPhone?

Birthday parties are a wonderful thing.....especially if they are celebrating the beginning of a new decade. Not only do you get to see all the members of your family, but many of your closest friends show up. And a few even bring presents.

At my most recent birhday party my ex gave me a fantastic gift....the new Apple iPhone. What a beauty!! I couldn't believe how far I had come in the last five years. In 2002 I bought my first cell phone ever...a Motorola starTAC. I kept that phone until a couple of months ago when I was finally embarrassed into buying a new model. I rarely saw anyone on the street who had a clamshell mobile phone with an antenna that one had to raise and lower manually. One person once complemented me on it, and he said it was "so retro". However, my kids and my friends begged me to get something else. Finally I did. I bought the Motorola Q (or Moto Q for short) and thought I was one cool dude.

I was very happy with my new cell phone. It was much sleeker than the old bulky starTAC. Then along comes Apple's new iPhone and everyone is talking about it. You would have to be living underwater not to know about it. And bingo I get one for a birthday present. Now I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I am still one to look at expenses. Since I already have a new cell phone that works fine I'm not convinced that I should pay monthly fees for another one. But the problem is that my cell phone service is limited to domestic calls. And since I am leaving shortly for Europe I finally decided to hook up the iPhone as it also works internationally.

This is where the fun begins. I read the brochure that came with the cell phone and am told the only way I can get service is hook it up to iTunes. Fine and dandy, but how do you do that. Fortunately I was at a dinner the other night with several thirty something techies and I noticed that they all had iPhones. But so did a friend who was studying at Harvard Business School. I asked him if he could help me, and he came over to my place and plugged in the iPhone to my PC meanwhile chastising me for not having an Apple computer. He downloaded iTunes and then I proceeded to fill out a few forms in order to get AT&T service. As everyone is also aware you can only use AT&T with your new iPhone. I presently use another phone company for my Moto Q, and am quite happy with their service. In fact I even bought their stock I liked the company so much. But I don't have any choice because AT&T has a monopoly if you want iPhone service. We will come back to that in a moment.

I check the first box for 450 minutes (I don't need more because I will soon have two cell phone plans) for $59.99 and I click "continue". Next I enter my email address, and my new password. I now have a couple of dozen passwords for different groups and it is getting impossible to remember them all. Some people say use the same password but that doesn't make sense because if someone figures it out they have access to all your accounts. Then I fill in my birthdate as if that is vital information for opening an account. However they say they need it because "you must be at least 18 years old" to open an account. Why don't they just have a box that says "over 18?" It would save a few extra seconds of typing. Plus does everyone need to know our age?

The next page asks for my name (no problem), billing address (no problem until the computer responds that it won't accept a P.O. Box which is where I get my bills sent....I can't go on until I give a street address), home phone (I can live with that, but what if I didn't have a home phone like most people under 30?) And then they ask the mother of all questions....what is your social security number? My Social Security number??? Why in the world does AT&T need my SS#? Are they a bank that reports interest payments to the IRS? Are they my employer that reports my earnings to the IRS? No not even close.

So I click on "Why do we need this?" right after the empty SS# box which I will not fill in. It says

"Your Social Security Number is required by AT&T. By providing your Social Security Number, you give credit check consent and reporting authorization as follows:

I authorize any person, or consumer or credit reporting agency to provide any information it has on me or the entity on whose behalf I make this application.

I authorize AT&T to:

*Compile this information

*Disclose my account information including my payment history and confidential information to credit reporting agencies or private credit reporting associations

*Periodically obtain and use my credit report and other credit information from any source in connection with AT&T's offering of wireless and other services. I understand that if I fail to fulfill the terms of my credit obligations under the Agreement, AT&T may report my failure to a credit reporting agency.

To learn more about how your personal information is used and securely stored, read AT&T's Privacy Policy."

That was singularly uninformative.

After I leave the SS# box blank, the next entry is for my credit card information for iTunes purchases. I don't know why this is on the AT&T form but I fill it out even though I don't ever plan to purchase anything from iTunes. (It must be obvious by now that I didn't just celebrate my 30th or even 40th birthday.)

So then I click "continue" but it won't let me continue until I fill in the SS# information which I won't do because I have read enough about identity theft to know that this is not a good idea. Also somewhere in the back of my mind I recall being told by lawyers that you don't have to give your SS# for most things including getting access to the air waves which the public owns. When I got cable TV service for my home I didn't have to give it. It seems an unwarranted invasion of privacy and I don't know why more people don't strenuously object.

So since the computer wouldn't let me complete my application, the following day I went to see a live person at one of AT&T's customer service centers. When I walked into the store there were several sales people standing around. I went up to one and said that I would like to sign up for AT&T service for my new iPhone. I was told that he couldn't do that because they didn't have an internet connection, and I needed to go on the internet to get service. (AT&T doesn't have internet service at that store...go figure.) I told him I had already been on the internet, but that I didn't want to give my SS# to AT&T. He said he couldn't help me.

So I went back to my office and called AT&T's toll free number and I explained my situation to the nice woman on the other end of the phone. She completely understood my concern, and she said that if I were willing to provide a $1000 deposit then I wouldn't have to give my entire SS#, but only the last four digits of it. With great relief I thanked her and said that I would be glad to provide her with my credit card info for the deposit. Then she told me that she couldn't help me because I would need to visit a customer service center to take the required information. Once there they would be able to provide me with an AT&T pre-approved credit check code which I could enter on my computer in a box on the page with th e infamous SS# request. As AT&T explains it: "With an AT&T Pre-Approved Credit Check Code, AT&T will activate your iPhone service without performing another credit check during iPhone activation."

Hallelujah....I just struck pay dirt!! Or so I thought.

So off I go to another AT&T customer service center which miraculously has internet service. So I tell the nice gentleman what the nice lady on the phone had told me and his brow furls. He says that he would have to have my full SS# in order to give me a pre-approved credit check code. But I told him that I had asked the person on the AT&T toll free line twice to repeat the fact that I would only need to provide the last four digits of my SS#, and she had assured me twice that that would be all I needed. And I was ready to provide a $1000 deposit in order to get service (which now that I think about it is just a little outrageous but, hey, I wanted to join all my cool friends who had this hip iPhone...lol).

After further discussion for several minutes, I finally realized that I had hit the proverbial brick wall.....and AT&T had "won" a pyrrhic victory. In the good old days when I was younger I wouldn't have quit. I would have called a vice president of the company to inform them of how stupid this policy was, or that they should get their act together and have all their people talking from the same script. And when I was even younger I would have gone all the way to the top and tried to reach the president of AT&T. But life is too short, and we now have the internet and blogs to vent our frustration in cyberspace. Maybe someone from AT&T will actually see this blog and reach out to me.

Now to return to the point I made earlier. AT&T has a monopoly on cell phone service for the iPhone. (Is that American?) If they didn't have a monopoly I could have used my present service provider without going through all this hassle.....and in the end having nothing to show for it. After all I have been through, I can't say I blame all those people who have found ways to unlock the iPhone from AT&T's tight grip. They are the true entrepreneurs! And that innovative spirit is what built this great country of ours.

Oh and one last thing. Please no more high tech presents from anyone at my next birthday party. Just give me a good old fashioned book. In the time it took me to try and get phone service I could have read the last Harry Potter novel.....and had a lot more fun.

Comments

[situationcritical]

Pssst...the iPhone has been unlocked. There are FREE programs now for download that allow you to use other service providers.

http://iphoneworldwideunlock.com/install.html

[SamEllison]

It's time to re-visit the theme for the movie"The President's Analyst". Big brother has changed its name not its intent.

[Tommymac]

Great Post Micheal...I hope this gives you some insight as to why the Party you so faithfully served in the past is not the Party of We The People....rather it is the party of the Corporate Machine.

Unfortunatley, your situation has been fostered by the policies Your Party (of the Past, not sure what your affiliation is now) put in place...you are reaping the fruits of your labor.

[marika]

All this will go on and on until people learn to say no, thanks but no thanks. I don't need i; I just want it and I can do without.

[kilnwmn]

I refused to get a cellphone thru Cingular years ago because they wanted my SS#...they don't need it...they have my name and address and birthdate...they lost a customer (they also had terrible customer (so-called) "service"!

[kfdan]

ATT does not need this information and it's clear this company needs to be cut off at the knees!

[TucsonEd]

I guess I'm really paranoid. I even shred the labels off my old prescriptions when I get my medication refilled.

[oddjob1993]

National Grid will not allow me to pay my monthly statement online without providing my SS#. I asked the customer service rep if they were going to put me on their payroll, as this is a tax ID #, and nothing else. But, your SS# can be found with your name and DOB!

[GenericBlogger]

Last year I looked into the satellite TV service offered through AT+T. I called a sales rep and was told I had to give my SS AND driver's license number for a background check. I protested and refused for two reasons. They don't need that much information and their sales rep didn't live in America.

I went through a similar frustrating exercise with a company that delivers bottled water. They asked for the same information for a business worth about $40 or $50 a month. After some bottled water shams were revealed in the news I lost interest in bottled water.

Not only do vendors now ask too much information but they also place our identities and finances at risk by outsourcing telephone related services to firms in other countries and continents. Identity theft is likely anywhere in the world and there is little if any recourse for justice even if the thieves can be found. Other countries are happy to have our business but their police agencies are either incapable of or unwilling to handle identity related crimes in their own countries.

Al Qaeda's finances can be traced throughout the world so why can't financial companies trace electronic transactions to curtail identity theft? In the ever increasing risky environment of identity theft, vendors need to stop playing games with our personal information for the meager business they get.

[Doofus]

What you should probably do, making-a-
statement-wise, is give them made up
numbers for *everything*. I would even
make up a phony name, preferably an
amusing one, that nobody will actually
associate with you. The *real* you, that is.

That way, they couldn't even check to see
if you're being truthful with them. And it
would probably annoy Fatherland Security too!

[sjmorton]

Any company that offers to extend you credit without asking for your SSN should be looked upon with a great deal of scepticism. (Just ask all the sub-prime mortgage borrowers whose interest rates are about to jump.) They need it to make sure that you are a good credit risk and so they can report your payment history to the credit agencies.

But AT&T isn't extending me credit, you say? Sure they are. They are letting you make as many calls as you want, many of which will involve charges that must be paid to other carriers or transport providers. AT&T becomes responsible for these charges as soon as you make the call. If you don't pay, AT&T is out of pocket.

I am certainly no apologist for giant telecommunication companies but this is the reality.

[midtown]

Try this Michael:

http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/02/iphone-prepay-the-right-way/

[Dejack]

I'd like to see Social Security Numbers be used for social security purposes and absolutely NOTHING else, and I mean nothing!
Is that so radical?

[whatfreshhellisthis]

I believe the Federal Government, through its Armed Services, helped lead the way to using SSN's for purposes other than Social Security, when they stopped assigning "service numbers" to military personnel and began using SSN's instead. The same Federal Government that constantly warned each of us never to disclose our SSN to anyone.

Dejack, I don't think your proposal is at all radical. That's how it should be. But I think it's a lost cause. It's too late, by about 4 decades.

[Annette]

That used to be the law. But now anyone can use it for anything.I agree with the writer above who is moving Orwell to the non-fiction shelf. I haven't figured out yet what i-Phone will provide that I need. I realize that it is cool but that is a silly thing to care about. Still a nice gift. You can now give it to someone else.

[IntrepidReader]

You mean like it was in the old days when the card stated right on it "Not to be used for purposes of identification"?

[kipmartin]

come on, do some analyss: so many people believe--and its almost urban legend--that your SS# should be kept secret. thats paranoia, for two reasons: a.) if i want your SS#, i'm reasonably sure i can find it, and b.) having your SS# is not like having a 'key' to your assets, personal info, or personal finances. its just a number that allows for uniqueness in a database (eg, TRW, Equifax, etc.) that your name doesn't provide. period. its not quite a sign of the End Times.

every time you give your credit card to a waiter or even swipe it in a gas pump, you are opening a much bigger chance of exposure to your personal life than by simply divulging your SS#.

i know, i know, its hard to believe, but your SS# just isn't that important. your credit card number is. so is your address. and unfortunately, even your birthdate and mothers maiden name are more important. all these things can be pieced together easily by a sharp person on a computer.

your SS# is just a unique placeholder in a database. all that other stuff, on the other hand is much more valuable. id rather tell AT&T my SS# than let my waiter take a card to the register. and by the way--170 million of us have given the cellular carriers our SS#s and we seem to be doing fine.

[runswithscissors]

With your SSN and any address, someone could put a hundred credit cards in your name and get away with it. Years later, they'll still have that same SSN. Sure you can restore your credit, but it will be an ongoing hassle.
If someone gets your credit card number, you dispute whatever gets charged (every credit card company offers theft protection) and the number can be changed as many times as you like. Very easy fix.

[BarryChamplain]

Yes, but didn't one of our brave (Republican) legislators (from Missouri, I believe) just introduce a bill to exempt communications giants from all liability, for handing over all your personal information to a government database?

I'm sure the good Senator wasn't really saying that any of them actually HAD already done that. No siree. Much like all those provisions of the Patriot Act (a.k.a., the Orwellian name from Hell) all came about the day after 9.11, and have nothing whatsoever to do with good, decent Americans like you and me ("if you haven't done anything wrong, then blah blah bley-yah blah blah bloopie-doo...").

Michael, that isn't an iPhone you've got there. It's a Trojan horse that AT&T had Steve Jobs build to get into your life and go fishing. And while kipmartin makes a perfectly sober point, there, I really could care less if there are other numbers we use in our lives that are more worthy of privacy and protection. Don't be seduced into thinking that AT&T's rule about your SS# and all that voluminous fine print was just put there for the hell of it.

The corporatocracy does not do ANYTHING for the hell of it.

(And AT&T could probably put us all at ease about this matter, if they would just open up that little data room of theirs, in San Francisco...)

[Quaoar]

Bullshit. The thief won't necessarily have access to your existing accounts, but he/she will be able to create new ones. Your name, address, and social security number are enough to set up a fraudulent account in many cases.

[rektruax]

"i know, i know, its hard to believe, but your SS# just isn't that important"

Then there shouldn't be a problem if I choose not to give it. Think much?

The issue with me isn't the degree of secrecy. It's why do you need this? What does activating a phone have to do with social security? Some don't even pretend anymore. They call it your tax I.D.

[Rowland]

The degree to which, as is implied by your comment, you are willing the be the generation that marks the delineation between a society that accepts a man for what he is standing there in what ever he determines to wear upon his person to a one in which the individual becomes first and foremost the number and the data attached and where serious decisions can be made about him in advance of his ever being remotely interested in some venture where such information is necessary, is mind-numbing to say the least.

[jukesgrrl]

I've come to the conclusion that there are many things in the brave new world that I will never have -- not because I don't want them or can't afford them, but just because the hassle that it takes to procure them totally overrides the joy of ownership. Perhaps at the end of my days I will be living like the Unibomber, but so be it.