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Identity Theft Prevention Tips?

Posted by Cliff on from the keeping-your-identity-to-yourself dept.

metalhed77 asks: "I have a ton of bank statements I need to dispose of and am wondering what I should do with them. Googling for solutions I just find banks advising me to tear them up, which seems like more an inconvenience to a thief than a real preventative measure. What do Slashdot readers do with their sensitive documents? With so much data theft occurring in today's society, what else do you all do to protect your personal data?"

12 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Easy solution... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think we can close this thread now. /move along.

  2. Re:Easy solution... by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mix the pieces with kitty litter, biohazard baby diapers and damned leftovers from Hell's Fridge. The crimial might get your identity, but he'll never be clean again!

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  3. Re:Burn 'Em by pyrrhonist · · Score: 3, Funny
    Burn the papers. Keep a pile of them, and once every few months, toss them on a fire. It's the only solution for the paranoid.

    No! Never burn your old papers. When paper is burned, the smoke emitted by the fire can be intercepted and the data recovered.

    Come on, haven't you ever heard of smoke signals?

    --
    Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
  4. Re:Burn 'Em by fm6 · · Score: 2, Funny
    It's the only solution for the paranoid.
    Burning sensitive papers isn't paranoid. Doing an electronic sweep for hidden cameras near your fireplace, now that is paranoid.
  5. Re:easy one by Chess_the_cat · · Score: 4, Funny
    I've heard that many companies are now providing statements online with the option to stop mailing you a physical copy. Someone can't steal what isn't produced in the first place.

    Hmmmm. Your arguments are airtight. Unless of course one day someone figures out how to "break" "into" a "computer" and "steal" "data". But we've probably got a long wait ahead of us before that happens.

    --
    Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
  6. Change Your Name by jazman_777 · · Score: 3, Funny

    To something outrageous like Napoleon Bonaparte. Then anyone stealing your ID will be considered a loon.

    --
    Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
  7. Re:Burn 'Em by erth64net · · Score: 3, Funny

    OMG! I never thought of the cameras! I mean I did disassemble my shredder to check there, but the fireplace?!? I wonder where I can get my hands on a wideband RF detector?

  8. Re:Burn 'Em by JRootabega · · Score: 2, Funny

    That is why you puff on a cigarette while you're doing it. It's a one-time pad.

  9. Doublespeak on /. by sadiklis · · Score: 2, Funny

    If it's "sharing" rather than "theft" on kazaa, then it's "identity sharing" rather than "identity theft" as well...

  10. obvious solution by corvid13 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can't find the URL but you can easily find it by googling. You scan your statements and email them the resulting files in whatever format you like. This site sheds the files into pieces no bigger than 3 or 4 bits each. it's really cheap and no thief without his own beawolf cluster will have a chance of reconstructing your data. good luck...

  11. Re:We're moving in the right direction by Scaba · · Score: 3, Funny

    No, my friend, you are thinking of scissors. Scissors destroy paper, paper covers rock and rock breaks scissors.

  12. Re:Easy solution... by caseydk · · Score: 2, Funny


    I shred mine and add them to the used kitty litter.

    I figure that if they go to effort at that point, they deserve anything they can get.