By Didi Rankovic<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the US, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will this summer launch a feature allowing digital access for the key identification format, the Social Security number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This will be happening via online accounts dubbed, \u201cMy Social Security\u201d and the digital card. This is considered by some observers as \u201cthe first step\u201d toward the digital ID \u2013 or, by those opposed to such massive centralization of personal data, as the first step on a slippery slope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SSA is promoting the move as a modernization of the service, with the word \u201cconvenience\u201d inevitably used to justify the change \u2013 \u201cstreamlining\u201d employment verification and financial onboarding processes, and access to government services listed in this context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other than significantly upping the game as far as future mass surveillance goes, digital ID is consistently drawing criticism for security reasons, namely, for assembling a large amount of the most sensitive personal information in a single place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so, possibly hoping to nip those concerns in the bud, SSA made sure to stress that in addition to \u201cconvenience\u201d people in the US with Social Security numbers (replacing forgotten ones, as well as lost cards) \u2013 can also allegedly expect better \u201csecurity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To drive this point home, SSA said it is working with \u201cleading identity verification providers,\u201d in particular to ensure against cyber attacks on the core tech \u2013 authentication protocols. Another argument in favor of the digital approach is that the risk of documents getting lost or stolen is \u2013 \u201creduced.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The digital SSN and card will be used as proof of identity also \u201cfor reasons other than handling Social Security matters,\u201d SSA announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These statements are in line with SSA\u2019s previous policy, described in some reports as a shift \u201ctoward secure, digital-first service delivery\u201d \u2013 the requirement of Login.gov authentication for users online being mentioned as one example of the trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For now, at least, the digital SSN card will not replace physical ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/reclaimthenet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/digit-d-scaled.jpg\")
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