Now we know there is alot of talk about the "Privacy Act of 1974"...well if you actually READ what it says, you will see no mention of a CPN...none whatsoever! Here is what is says in a nut shell...
The Privacy Act states in part:
No agency shall disclose any record which is contained in a system
of records by any means of communication to any person, or to another
agency, except pursuant to a written request by, or with the prior
written consent of, the individual to whom the record pertains...
If you want to know more about the "Privacy Act of 1974" by all means check it out for yourself here at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_Act_of_1974.
Dont allow a seller of CPN's to "SPIN" the "Privacy Act of 1974" into telling you that because of that CPN's are allowed and legal.
It all comes down to one thing: If they were legal, legitimate, what have you...WHY doesn't the Government issue them? WHY doesn't the Social Security Administration issue them? Why doesn't any licensed, regulated financial institution issue them?
The only Government Entity that issues anything like a CPN is the IRS and they issue TIN's.
Anyone who has any intelligence and knows how social security numbers are issued and knows how the credit bureaus work with the credit card companies that issue credit cards can create a CPN...its not rocket science.