"Lynne L. Harrison" <lharrison@mhv.net>:

There may be *an ulterior motive* of getting the person's ssn, i.e., for the purpose of the newspaper (and the winner) reporting winnings to IRS. In addition, the newspaper may also feel that, in selecting a 10-digit number, it probably will not repeat such as someone's birthdate. Personally, I lean towards the former.

Why not just make giving up your SS# a condition of receiving the prize *if* you are a winner like lotteries do? I think the real reason is they need a unique number and are lazy and uncreative about generating one from the info people send in. Weld Pond - weld@l0pht.com - http://www.l0pht.com/~weld L 0 p h t H e a v y I n d u s t r i e s Technical archives for the people - Bio/Electro/Crypto/Radio