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No, there is a valid point to be made there. Just for laughs, I found a BMI chart. I'm about 5'9'', 220 lb. According to the chart, my BMI is about 33, well into "obese" territory, which itself is a class above overweight!

Yet just last week I had my bodyfat checked at a gym with some electronic device you're supposed to grip. It put me at 24% bodyfat, right within the range it should be.

You can place a fraud alert on your credit report. An initial alert does not require a police report, and lasts for 90 days. During this time, you may end up having to jump through additional hoops to obtain new credit.

The easiest way to put an alert is to use the online form at Experian; alternately, you can call any of the credit reporting agencies to also set up an alert, if you want to do it by phone, instead.

The direct link for the Experian site to do this is:

https://www.experian.com/consumer/cac/InvalidateSe ssion.do?code=SECURITYALERT

More advice available here for identity theft victims:

http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/con_steps.htm

Hopefully, you will not need it.

-- Terry

Lessons learned. Use your debit card as a credit card - the laws concerning credit fraud are more clear cut. Ask your bank to not to use your savings as overdraft protection. Only keep enough money in checking for what you know is coming in the short term, isolate the rest in the saving account. Check your account frequently (a friend has his balance emailed to him daily - not a bad idea). Check your credit history every four months (one free per year per credit agency - https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ ).

If fraud happens. Call bank/Visa/MC/whoever and get a block on your card. Call one of the credit agencies and put a fraud alert on your credit record. Call the local police and file a report. If you are like I was and can't do anything until Monday, move what is left into your savings account that are going to isolate after reading this.

A good resource is: http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

Given all the data floating around out there and the lack of data theft reporting laws, one can argue that everyone "could" be a victim. I've heard that some people put in a fraud alert on their files just in case.

Anyone know of any serious downsides to using fraud alert as a routine ID theft security measure?

Given all the data floating around out there and the lack of data theft reporting laws, one can argue that everyone "could" be a victim. I've heard that some people put in a fraud alert on their files just in case.

Anyone know of any serious downsides to using fraud alert as a routine ID theft security measure?

You do know there are multiple laws that cover theft right?

Take identity theft, where no tangible property is deprived from the victim, however there was a act passed by Congress in 1998 called the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act which states that it is a federal crime when anyone:

"...knowingly transfers or uses, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, any unlawful activity that constitutes a violation of Federal law, or that constitutes a felony under any applicable State or local law."

So by this act's definition, I would say that this is clearly a case of stealing information.

You can read more here:
http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/federallaws.html

-David

Many people confuse being obese with being morbidly obese ( i.e. Al Roker, Michael Moore, Ariel Sharon etc).

FWIW, you do not have to be as overweight as you think to be considered obese. Having a BMI of at least 30 qualifies as obesity.

One word of caution. The BMI is criticized for not differentiating between weight from lean tissue and weight from fat.

However, you shouldn't let the criticism make you ignore the BMI scale. Oceania doesn't have a muscle building epidemic, it has an obesity epidemic. It is still a good tool for giving people a perspective on various body weights:

BMI Scale http://www.consumer.gov/weightloss/bmi.htm

Someone who has this information on their laptop loses it

Why was it on a _laptop_ in the first place? Regardless of who hangs in the end for the financial liability, damage is caused. The problem with your argument is the assumption of a "victimless crime"--assuming someone got hold of 100,000 SSNs, as well as associated data allowing you to assume the identity of an existing person, there's a good chance your $1,000 example would be multiplied quite a bit. Even _if_ the person whose persona was thieved were proven innocent, the result would be harm to everyone in the form of tougher loan criteria, higher fees, etc.

Think of it this way: a fair amount of what Visa charges you in interest & fees goes towards insuring them against credit card fraud. After the ChoicePoint exploit, one African gentleman was caught only after submitting loan applications under at least 40 assumed personas, and having received approval for quite a few of them.

The loss of the SSN is not the cause per se; it is the piss-poor awareness of data protection best practices that led the data to being on a _laptop_ in the first place, and the piss-poor system that led to a perceived requirement to collect that information in a manner not necessarily directly related to social security-relevant purposes.

Pardon me if I'm being thick here, but I am really having trouble understanding how I am not explaining myself. I believe the system is broken, for reasons I tried to state very clearly,
and I think the behavior (or lack thereof) that led to the theft of this information in such a manner being possible is equally broken.

Regarding your example, we're not just talking about loans here--here are a few random links on the topic of identity theft, with plenty of information on potential consequences.

Your argument is perfectly legit, no a strawman at all, except for the part about stealing money from Bill--of course not. But Bill's not Sam T. Gradstudent, so fallacy of equation there.

I was wondering if it would be helpful to report ChoicePoint to the FTC, maybe using forms linked to here. The charge could be made that ChoicePoint has my personal information and has possibly shared it with criminals by intentionally having a lax policy of checking the validity of their own customers (criminals) in order to maximize thier profits. In other words, ChoicePoint is an accomplice to identity theft.

I was also wondering if I also have the right as a consumer to demand that ChoicePoint do not ever share my information with anyone. Don't I have that right with the credit agencies (Equifax/TransUnion/Experian) ??

When credit vendors are required to reimburse the victims.

http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

You don't get it.

Fraud:

A deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain.

or:

An intentional perversion of truth for the purpose of obtaining some valuable thing or promise from another.

Or better from the FTC site:

How can someone steal your identity? Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information such as your name, Social Security number, credit card number or other identifying information, without your permission to commit fraud or other crimes.

For those of us not as unlucky as the original poster, there is a lot of information available at EPIC

Part of the problem is that ID theft is the largest growing consumer fraud in the country. Investigators and prosecutors can not keep up with it. ID theft is now 42% of all reported consumer fraud. Over 200,000 people filed complaints with the FTC last year and the FTC estimates that as many as 9.9 million people were victims of ID theft last year. Yikes!

Part of the problem is that ID theft is the largest growing consumer fraud in the country. Investigators and prosecutors can not keep up with it. ID theft is now 42% of all reported consumer fraud. Over 200,000 people filed complaints with the FTC last year and the FTC estimates that as many as 9.9 million people were victims of ID theft last year. Yikes!

At second thought, perhaps that was uncalled for, given that ID theft really is a serious problem. However, like several posters have already suggested, it does seem like you're overreacting. Shredding documents in particular is probably completely unnecessary. The likelyhood of someone actually going through your trash to find documents to use for ID theft is so low as to be neglectable.

The 750K figure and others mentioned in the Washington Post link probably includes people merely "taking" the identity but not "using" it. This could, for example, include script kiddies stealing databases with thousands and thousands of credit card numbers and personal info but doing nothing with it (or doing something, but only with small parts of it).

But it is true that one should keep an eye open. Here's what your favorite .gov recommends.

It's not the government screwing you over, it's your fellow criminal who is interested in identity theft.

If your single ID is used for everything from credit card applications, bank statements, medical records, then a person who finds your ID can access all of them.

Think it's a joke? A good friend of mine's mailbox was broken into many times, when he lived in an apartment, where they stole credit card pre-approved applications and redirected them to a different address. If they had succeeded, you bet they would have rang up tons of charges under his name, ruining his credit. Identity theft can completely ruin your life. Just because you've never heard of anyone abusing an ID number doesn't mean it has happened.

I think that this case (and subsequent appeal to the US Supremes, if that happens) will be a milestone precedent for privacy issues beyond its limited scope. This will be particularly so if/when this decision gets linked with the current government focus on identity theft by the FTC and other agencies. The key, as with many things, will be the timing. It may get lost for awhile behind Iraq, N. Korea, and the eoconomy, but I think the affects from this case will be long-term and far-reaching.