ALL PLEASE NOTE: THIS POST REPRESENTS RAMON VB'S PERSONAL OPINION; HE IS NOT POSTING IN ANY OFFICIAL WASHINGTON TROUT CAPACITY.

Well, I guess I can actually see everyone's point. I would imagine WDFW wants your SS# for the same reason everyone else generally does: convenience. Everyone has one, and they all have the same number of digits. You can't say that for the myriad other numbers we're all assigned.

That said, I do think CFM has some legitimate concerns (which maybe proves the old saw about lefties and righties being paranoid about the same things). The question isn't so much why they want it as what they might decide to do with it and whether it's a good idea to give it to them. Especially in this high-tech age.

THAT said, I also have to agree that boat has pretty much already sailed. I've lost track of who all has my SS#, DL#, sundry CC#'s, and other info they could use to find me and/or screw me, including the hospital, the last college I attended, everywhere I've worked or even just applied for a job, and the guy who sold me my car, if I remember correctly (to be perfectly frank, he seemed even shiftier than Jeff Koenings). If I didn't give my SS# to WDFW and they really wanted it, couldn't they just call their pals at the Dept of Licensing and get it? And doesn't that go for just about anybody else?

Now that all's not to say it doesn't make me uneasy, but it's been going on like this for some time now, and the jack-booted thugs haven't broken down my door yet.

(Again, please note advisory at top.)