"Publishers actually reuse ISBNs" is a horror which keeps traumatizing new librarians every so often
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"Publishers actually reuse ISBNs" is a horror which keeps traumatizing new librarians every so often
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"Publishers actually reuse ISBNs" is a horror which keeps traumatizing new librarians every so often
@phette23 am I about to learn that ISBNs, like SSNs, are not actually unique?
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@phette23 am I about to learn that ISBNs, like SSNs, are not actually unique?
@brianfenton @phette23 ”The SSA projects that the current numbering system has enough combinations to last for many generations, specifically for about another 70 years, without needing to change the number of digits or reuse existing numbers.”
cite: https://legalclarity.org/do-social-security-numbers-get-reused/
So, not yet, but maybe in the future! Or they'll change the format of SSNs (e.g., start including characters or extra digits.
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@brianfenton @phette23 ”The SSA projects that the current numbering system has enough combinations to last for many generations, specifically for about another 70 years, without needing to change the number of digits or reuse existing numbers.”
cite: https://legalclarity.org/do-social-security-numbers-get-reused/
So, not yet, but maybe in the future! Or they'll change the format of SSNs (e.g., start including characters or extra digits.
@thisismissem @phette23 yeah I clarified afterward, I meant that there isn't a guaranteed one to one mapping of SSNs to people given SSNs, although there have been at least a few mistakes where a given number was assigned twice
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@thisismissem @phette23 yeah I clarified afterward, I meant that there isn't a guaranteed one to one mapping of SSNs to people given SSNs, although there have been at least a few mistakes where a given number was assigned twice
@brianfenton My understanding is that it's possible to get a new SSN in the US, in which case there is definitely not a one-to-one mapping between SSNs and persons.
If you mean SSNs more generally as in "mostly-numeric personal identification number generally assigned by a government entity" and are willing to consider international usage, then it's *very* possible for multiple people to have the same string of characters as their identification number.
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