Identity Theft is OK

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/supreme-court-feds-abusing-identity-theft-law/

A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Monday the government has been overstepping the boundaries of identity theft legislation when targeting immigrants who use phony citizenship documents to acquire jobs.

The justices said that the government, in order to prove such charges, must demonstrate that a defendant “knowingly” hijacked the identity of somebody else. In the case before the justices, an Illinois illegal immigrant steelworker was charged under the statute after submitting a fake Social Security number that, without the worker’s knowledge, happened to match a real number.
Justice Stephen Breyer wrote (.pdf)
the decision would not have an impact on bread-and-butter ID theft cases. In those instances, persons hijacking someone’s identity for financial gain obviously know that such data belongs to a real person.

Can someone explain how, if you do not go to the Social Security Office and get your own Social Security number, you can claim you did not “knowingly” use another's identity???