Didn't the sponsors of the Social Security Act publicly assure the voters that Social Security numbers would not be used as ID numbers?

yes they did. when i was a wee lad i remember getting my card and the gentleman told me that my number is for them and them only and no other government department would ever have to know my number and it was for the SSA only.

ha!! a few years ago mine was one of the names and numbers that was lifted from the computer of some VA worker. i have not had dealings with the VA since 1974 and have moved about 100 times since.

the VA was nice enough to send the letter, but how did they find me?