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Paul Donahue wrote: >I share this view as I'm sure most people do. I am an example of a person who has both an APID and ZPID, I think my MSU Net ID would be a much better way to link these two pids rather than SSN. > > > Yeah, I have an APID and a ZPID too. Hardly ever use the ZPID for anything though. As far as Netid's as a link between ZPID and APID, Netid's aren't static over time, people change their Netid's when they get married, etc. SSN is ultimately the one identifier that 1. everyone has and 2. doesn't change. I agree that SSN shouldn't be used for as much stuff as it is, but right now there isn't really a viable alternative that I know of. SSN's have been used many, many places (not just the Library or MSU, but all over the country) for many years, and are so far embedded into a lot of things that to make a change away from SSN's everywhere they're used would require a lot of work. Within MSU it might be possible to get away from SSN's and replace them with some sort of equivalent unique ID that each person only has one of, but that will take time. -ED