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Government To Fix Identity Theft?
Cobb writes "With nearly 50 million identities compromised in the last 6 months, the powers that be are gearing up to fix the problem. 'Prosecutors and privacy experts say that what America needs is a coordinated national strategy. While 15 states require companies to tell consumers if their data has been compromised, there's still no national law.' A new study joins a host of other statistics -- some private, some government-sponsored -- attempting to quantify the size of the ID theft problem. There is no universal agreement on the size of the problem, on the way to count the victims, or even on how to define identity theft."
If the government privated identity management it could not get any worse. Government made monopolies like that on identity management only end in crisis and wasted taxpayer dollars. Oh well. Our government is out of control these days. Can anyone say revolution time? Pitchforks and shotguns!
The issue is gaining momentum, with several bipartisan proposals aimed at restricting the use of Social Security numbers and creating a new cyber-security center. The latest bill would require companies that collect data to tighten controls and tell customers how that information is used.
Good! It's by no means the silver bullet in identity theft, but I really get sick of having companies ask for my SSN when it's none of their goddamned business! Even when I took Sun certifiation exams, the unique identifier that they wanted to use was my SSN! Exactly what business is it of a certification examination center to have my (or anyone's) SSN?
The problem, however, is one that government will never be able to fix - consumer stupidity. It's staggering that people are so shocked when they find out that their identity was stolen, yet they will look at you dumbfounded if you ask them:
* Do you shred all of your mail, bank statement, receipts, and so forth before throwing them away?
* Do you make sure to never purchase from e-mails that you didn't ask for?
* Do you make sure to purchase on-line through secure, HTTPS connections?
* Do you willingly give out information to people on the phone who claim to be from one business or another?
I'm sure that the government will do what it can (even if it further tramples on our individual rights one way or another) but until the general public stops their carelessness with personal information or materials that contain personal information, identity theft will keep going and going just like that damned rabbit.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Biometrics is not the approach. That suffers from the exact same problems, only they are one worse: Once your biometric data is stolen, you cannot get a new fingerprint issued.
Your biometrics are just a number, so once someone has that number then they can impersonate you. Ex: You want to do an online credit card purchase, so you scan your thumbprint. Great! You send it to someone else, and now they have your thumbprint.
This can be best prevented by using encryption and such, but then those things can be applied to existing methods so the biometric data didn't help.
Call this one number to opt out of all three bureaus: You can protect yourself from identity theft by taking your name off of the credit bureaus mailing lists. The credit bureaus are one of the biggest offender when it comes to selling your name and information to the credit card companies who in turn send you all those pre-approved applications. One call to the Opt Out Request Line (for Equifax, Trans Union, Experian and Consumer Credit Associates) is all it takes to permanently remove your name from all marketing lists that the credit agencies supply to direct marketers. You can also opt for a two-year period, renewing your request at any time in the future.
1-888-567-8688
Opt Out Prescreen I opted out w/this website (it would send the info to all 4 credit reporting bureaus with my opt-out info), and within 5 days, my daily preapproved credit offers went to virtually zero.
Actually, it sends opt-out info to 4 credit reporting bureaus.
And add me to 100 other what? Huh? We don't have 100 "other" credit bureaus. Do you even know what you're talking about?
I learned of this website from an article about preventing identity theft, published in our local newspaper. I was skeptical at how well the opt-out process would work, but it managed to surprise me.