The advice in this FAQ deals primarily with the Social Security Number used in the US, though the privacy considerations are equally applicable in many other countries. The laws explained here are US laws. The advice about dealing with bureaucrats and clerks is universal.

New York Times - free registration required A Growing Compatibility Issue in the Digital Age: Computers and Their Users' Privacy. The Intel Corporation recently blinked in a confrontation with privacy advocates protesting the company's plans to ship its newest generation of microprocessors with an embedded serial number that could be used to identify a computer -- and by extension its user.

But those on each side of the dispute acknowledge that it was only an initial skirmish in a wider struggle. From computers to cellular phones to digital video players, everyday devices and software programs increasingly embed telltale identifying numbers that let them interact.

Whether such digital fingerprints constitute an imminent privacy threat or are simply part of the foundation of advanced computer systems and networks is the subject of a growing debate between the computer industry and privacy groups.

CNET NEWS.COM - Microsoft admits privacy problem, plans fix. Microsoft has acknowledged that a feature of its Windows 98 operating system can be used to trace the identity of authors of electronic documents, according to a report.

The company acknowledged that Windows 98, and other Microsoft applications such as Word and Excel, generate unique identification numbers that are linked to registered users' names, according to a report in the The New York Times.

The ID number is transmitted to Microsoft whenever a customer registers his copy of Windows 98 using the automated "registration wizard" included in Windows, Richard M. Smith, a software developer who first identified the issue, told CNET's NEWS.COM.

New York Times - free registration required Microsoft to Alter Software in Response to Privicy Concerns. The Microsoft Corporation moved to defuse a potentially explosive privacy issue today, saying it would modify a feature of its Windows 98 operating system that has been quietly used to create a vast data base of personal information about computer users

Microsoft conceded that the feature, a unique identifying number used by Windows and other Microsoft products, had the potential to be far more invasive than a traceable serial number in the Intel Corporation's new Pentium III that has privacy advocates up in arms. The difference is that the Windows number is tied to an individual's name, to identifying numbers on the hardware in his computer and even to documents that he creates.

Microsoft Tentacles Reaching Out Again. Microsoft Corp. yesterday unveiled a wide-ranging plan that could make it even more omnipresent in the business world, even as a prominent trade group suggested the government should look at breaking up the software giant.

Chief executive Bill Gates told a group of about 200 analysts and reporters in San Francisco that Microsoft's new electronic commerce strategy would provide products and services touching every aspect of doing business on the Internet. The plan includes helping companies set up Internet retail sites, setting common standards for electronic transactions, and tracking sales patterns and consumer habits

Political News from Wired News - Privacy's Protector Makes Debut. The Clinton administration's newly appointed Internet privacy adviser said that he hopes that federal laws to protect consumers online will not be needed.

And I hope that some day we won't need police to stop murder and theft, but till then I want protection. Unfortunately he sounds more like a PR person/spin master than a protector.

Political News from Wired News - Privacy Power to the People. When it launches, PersonaXpress, the first product from Louisville, Colorado-based PrivaSeek, will be the first consumer-driven repository of consumer profiles. Web marketers commonly use these profiles to target ads and engage in so-called relationship marketing.

Political News from Wired News - Anti-Privacy Bank Rules Crushed. By an 88 to 0 vote, the Senate approved a change to an education bill being debated. The amendment blocks banking regulators from proceeding with the so-called Know Your Customer plan.

"If you ever wondered whatever happened to the people in the former Soviet Union who used to run things there and now are permanently out of work, the answer is they're all in the Clinton administration, and they're running the banking authorities of this country," said Phil Gramm, a Texas Republican who chairs the Banking Committee, in a speech on the Senate floor.

FDIC - Know Your Customer.