At 3:22 PM 5/14/96, Matthew Williams wrote:
Date sent: Mon, 13 May 1996 23:19:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Black Unicorn <unicorn@schloss.li>
<...>
I compare it to the ease with which one submits a fake social security number rather than simply refuse to submit one at all. A fake one wont raise any eyebrows, refusal will.
Although knowingly providing a fake social security number when one has any expectation of gain is, I believe, a felony.
42 USC. sec. 408.
Indeed. Plus, should one "just make a number up," odds are good that it "won't compute," that is, that it will either collide with an existing number (and identity, and reported income) or that it will fail the checksum/allocation tests. (That is, not all xxx-yy-zzzz numbers are valid SS numbers. See Chris Hibbert's "Structure of Social Security Numbers" FAQ, at http://snyside.sunnyside.com/cpsr/privacy/ssn/oldSSN/ssn.structure.html for details.) The IRS imposes penalties for faking SS numbers. (Not to mention the punishment meted out by the Sturmgruppenfuhrers of the SS!) A simple transposition of two digits may not get you zapped, but a large-scale transposition or outright falsification will. If and when they catch up with you. I'm all for avoiding taxes, but this is not a cost-effective way to do it. --Tim Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."