body: I went to sign up for a new Comcast account online. They asked me for some basic billing info, but *also* asked for my DOB and SSN, which I'd rather not give to them out of concern about identity theft.
  
  
  [![Comcast signup info - billing](https://i.stack.imgur.com/STReo.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/STReo.png)
  
  
  The claim is that they need it to run a credit check (ok, fair enough):
  
  
  [![Comcast signup info - SSN](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mvihU.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mvihU.png)
  
  
  But then wait! There is an alternative - I can pay a $50 deposit instead. Or so I thought:
  
  
  [![Comcast signup info - deposit](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vmvcl.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vmvcl.png)
  
  
  They *still* ask for my SSN! I thought that perhaps it was now an optional field, but as you can see from the validation message:
  
  
  [![Comcast signup info - form validation](https://i.stack.imgur.com/aOn9k.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/aOn9k.png)
  
  
  So, it would seem that they are not giving me a choice here. Is this legal? Are they allowed to *require* my SSN just to set up service?
  
  
  
title: Is it legal for Comcast to (apparently) require my SSN to obtain service?