"Most people don't know a number you're told to protect at all costs will one day be exposed on the Internet," ABC 2 News notes in its report on concerns about the Social Security Death Master File. Since 1980, details on 90,000,000 deceased U.S. citizens--including their names and Social Security numbers (SSNs)--have been included in the database, the report states, resulting in cases of identity theft. While families of two deceased infants whose information was used in fraud cases are investigating how their children's data was obtained, one consumer advocate notes, "Making this information public has clearly put people at risk."
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