"Roll Your Own" Dish Network: Is It Possible?

[Barry Erick]

I think you are paranoid. Your SSN is out there already waiting to be stollen. One more business is not going to matter. Heck, for various medical and 401k places from work, either the login or password is one's SSN. Now, one hopes every place that uses the SSN is valid, but one way to protect yourself is to do banking with a place offering and guaranteeing protection from that theft.

But, if they can find your SSN from the last four digits, it's there for the finding. Either don't worry about it or get protection.

 

[Schmoe]

"Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not after you" . Have you been watching/reading the news lately? Identity theft rates are on the rise. Maybe you didn't see that story on 20/20 about the woman whose identity was stolen and the thief used it to commit MASSIVE credit fraud. Then, every time she was stopped by a policeman(for speeding, etc.), she was arrested and hauled off to jail for a day or two until they could clear it up. This happened to her 3 times! Stories like this are becoming more and more common all across the country.

As for trusting Dish with my SS#, well... I find it a bit hard to trust the computer security of a company that can't even figure out DNS records.Their website can't be reached at dishnetwork.c0m, ONLY at w-w-w.dishnetwork.c0m. All it takes is a simple DNS tweak to fix this, and their computer techs can't even get that right.

I understand the need for a SS# at the bank. Heck, I'll even give it to 'em at the doc's office, but I have to draw the line when it comes to requiring a SS# to bolt a plastic dish to my roof.

 

[oberon]

dish does not need your ssn

just a little fuel for the fire, to pull a credit report all you need is a name and an address, and bingo you have the persons ssn

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

Here's the thing. I'm Canadian, and I don't have a SSN. When this came up, and they settled on the last 4 digits, I gave them the last 4 of my Canadian Social Insurance Number. They were quite fine with that.

One thing I recall from school, is American SSN's and Canadian SIN's use the same algorythms, and the last digit is actually a check digit. So if your SSN is "1234" they can check the 123 part and see that the last digit must be a 4.

Not true as all my brothers and I have sequental SSNs where the first 3 are the same and only the last digit is different - in fact the first 8 are the same and only the last digit different.

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

I've looked all over, but I can't seem to find any evidence that they can get your whole social security number from just the last four digits. From what I've read, when the last four digits are required, it's usually just to keep your name separate in their records(for example, in case another customer has the same name).

Can anyone else confirm or deny that it's even possible to get the whole SS# from just the last four digits and the person's name?

Considering the first 3 digits are the state you lived in when you applied for the SSN and the next 2 are group numbers which roughly correspond to when they were issued, I can't see that it would be too hard.

This is especially true now as a dependent must be reported on Form 1040 with a SSN so a number would be assigned shortly after birth and before April 15th of the following year, at least these days - and most likely in the state you were born - and considering the group number for the time frame will also be known - it would make it even easier.

 

[Schmoe]

I can't really see Dish doing this much detective work though... They have no way of knowing what state you were born in, nor what the group number was at the time.

oberon's post that a credit check can be run from just a name and address is a bit alarming though. That means that pretty much anyone could get your SS#. From what I understand, the government is fairly loose about enforcing the Fair Credit Act as it relates to credit checks.

 

[sksatellite]

You may use the DP Twin Plus and a seperator on the dual turner and leave the other cable for 311.

 

[kwajr]

and if he gives them only a dl# they will easly get a credit report with his ssn by the way that is how the credit sytem works its your ssn it is the only think that is trully unique to you but hey i guess they could do dna banking look if they want something they will get it and if you buy your equipment they want a deposit or ssn to prove that your credit worthy