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The social security number: A small device underpinning big systems
Author(s) -
Adèle PaulAnthelme
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
international social security review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.349
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1468-246X
pISSN - 0020-871X
DOI - 10.1111/issr.12125
Subject(s) - underpinning , social security , normative , norm (philosophy) , computer security , possession (linguistics) , internet privacy , element (criminal law) , business , computer science , law and economics , political science , sociology , engineering , law , civil engineering , linguistics , philosophy
The possession and use of a personal social security number helps to structure people's daily lives. However, despite its fundamental normative importance, the social security number remains a little‐known entity. Increasingly universal and yet diverse in form, it is a legal and technical norm which is as much a mechanism for surveillance and monitoring as it is a necessary instrument for giving effect to social rights. Analysis of this constituent element of social security systems permits as assessment of some of the technical difficulties presented by the ever‐increasing movement of people and data. Overcoming these technical difficulties should permit to envisage a first technical step towards realizing a universal and global social security system.