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Identity Theft Prevention Tips?
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?"
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.
You have more to worry from electronic theft than you do from somebody digging through your trash, though. Your SSN and everything else are on file with your credit card companies, banks, etc., and all too often they get cracked. Not a whole lot you can do there, other than avoiding business with them altogether.
Depends where you live, but sometimes you can use a chimney or BBQ (well, dunno about a BBQ.) I wouldn't recommend burning a big pile of paper. If you have a Chimenea you can burn it there. (I don't mean your actual chimney, but that could be an option for small amounts.) Anyway, fire would probably be the best place, BUT you need keep an eye on it. Don't just walk away! -P
Buy a cross-cut shredder. As mentioned by someone else, if you're too cheap for that, fire will work as well.
The one thing that people don't necessarily think of is checking their mail in the first place -- I know an older couple whose mail kept getting stolen, and the thief was using the information contained in the mail to do all kinds of things in their names.
If at all possible, ask the companies sending you bills and statements whether there's a paperless option -- 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.
Somebody get that guy an ambulance!
hankaholic asks, "I have a ton of nails I'd like to pound into a board for a project I've got going. Googling for solutions I just find hardware stores advising me to hit them with a sturdy object, which seems like more an way to damage a blunt object than a real nail-driving measure. What do Slashdot readers do with their nails? With so many construction techniques in today's society, what else do you all use to get those nail-based projects off of the drawing board?"
Somebody get that guy an ambulance!
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.
To something outrageous like Napoleon Bonaparte. Then anyone stealing your ID will be considered a loon.
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
Now, consider what's on your bank statement. Can the thief learn enough just by looking at your statements to pose at you? Obviously not. He can certainly use the statments to find out things you'd rather people not know. (Which is why it bothers some people that federal officials can browse online bank statements without a warrant.) And with a bit of work, he can use bank statements and other sources to assemble enough information about you to pose as you. Any inconvenience you add to the process, no matter how trivial, makes you slightly less vulnerable. The question is, how much effort should you expend to add inconvenience? To answer that, you have to consider just how much you have to protect.
I have to admit that I throw my bank statements in the trash without even tearing them up -- I have such a bad credit rating no sane person would want to steal my identity. If I were slightly better off, I would tear the statements up. If I were a lot better off, I'd buy a good shredder. And if I were really rolling in cash, I'd hire a document disposal service to convert my paper records to pulp before disposal.
But all of these measures can be circumvented. Shredded documents can be reassembled with enough patience and computer time. Sidney Bristow can use her feminine wiles to infiltrate your disposal service. You can't absolutely guarantee that nobody will steal your private records -- you can only make it not worth their while.
No, my friend, you are thinking of scissors. Scissors destroy paper, paper covers rock and rock breaks scissors.