Ohio citizens may have a bit more privacy as House Bill 46 passed though legislature last week. The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles no longer prints Social Security numbers on driver’s licenses and state identification cards.
The policy began January 31.
Lt. Governor Maureen O’Conner, director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, said the law is to increase security and protect Ohioans.
“Now if our residents lose their license or it’s stolen, the Social Security number won’t be on the license unless the person wishes for it to be,” O’Conner said.
Although the law prohibits Social Security numbers from being displayed, residents may request the number be printed on the card.
Christine Purnell, a sophomore in social work, planned to put hers back on her license at renewal time.
“It just makes sense to keep it on there because usually that’s what people are looking for when they look at your drivers license,” Purnell said.
“I knew it was an option to have it on there, and I always choose to have it on my license. I’ve never felt unsafe or anything,” said Brad Glober, a junior in communications.
Christine Colver, a senior in marketing, doesn’t see how the number was beneficial.
“It poses more of a risk. Someone could just see it and pick it up off the street and get your number,” Colver said.
The Social Security ID numbers have been on licenses since 1967. In 1998, people were given the option of asking the number to be removed, except for a commercial driver’s license, on which the number had to be displayed.
“I think it is a good thing,” said Lewis Wickline, a truck driver for B & B Industries. “If someone gets your license, it’s really easy for identity theft to happen.”
John Boggs, a truck driver for Boggs Trucking, is relieved the numbers are being taken off, and wishes it would have happened years ago.
“Your Social Security number in today’s world can get out there and, being all over the country, it’s easy to lose your license traveling as much as truckers do,” Boggs said.
The removal of Social Security numbers from documents and ID cards has been a security trend over the past decade. Eight years ago, university ID cards displayed student, faculty and staff social security numbers.
“For privacy reasons, we changed to a new card format that does not contain a social security number,” said Valerie Shafer, who was in charge of the BUCK-ID system when the change took place.
The card used today has a randomly generated 19-digit number that identifies university affiliates within our BUCK-ID card system. This number is encoded on the magnetic stripe contained on the back of the card and read when a card is swiped through a machine. Each time a card is lost and reissued, a new number is assigned.
