Selective Service Stupidity

As every male 18 years of age or older knows, the government requires that you sign up for the “Selective Service System.” These days, it would seem that a lot of people are forgetting, so they’ve sent out cards, reminding you. Seems like a good idea, right? Most people would until you realize the amount of personal information that they put on a piece of cardstock sent in the mail with no envelope. Some of this information included my name, address, and worst of all, my Social Security Number. Could the government do anything more to try to get my identity stolen? The one piece of information that I wanted was my “Selective Service Number,” ironically having the same acronym as what they could have just been flying across the skies with, for everyone to see. I’m not certain who’s idea this was, but whoever decided to put my SSN on a two-sided card in the mail to a mailbox that isn’t locked or under 24-hour surveillance , is probably on par for being one of the dumbest people in the world. Now for the kicker. They wanted me to send the card back in, just to verify that the information was correct. Verify? Why not just give it away to an indentity thief? It turns out, there’s a better way to take care of your Selective Service business, and it’s something I may spend a little too much time on. The Internet. I did all my business with the SS online, with 128-bit encryption. That’s something that’s comforting. Now, think of the people who don’t have internet access. What are they supposed to do? I think this part of our government needs to rethink how they do the application process and verification, as it is highly flawed and dangerous. No American should have to take the risk of losing their identity.