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The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan
Ben Rothke writes "It's a fallacy that our elected officials take forever to get things done. Two examples where Washington acted with speed are with the National Do Not Call Registry and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The National Do Not Call Registry was slated to take effect on October 1, 2003, but various marketing associations challenged its legitimacy and even if the FTC had the jurisdiction to enforce it. Notwithstanding, President Bush speedily signed the bill authorizing the no-call list to go into effect in September 2003 and the United State Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of the registry in February 2004. On June 25, 2002, WorldCom revealed it had overstated its earnings by more than $7 billion by improperly accounting for its operating costs. Senator Paul Sarbanes then introduced Senate Bill 2673 that same day where it passed 97-0 less than three weeks later. The House and Senate formed a Conference Committee to reconcile the differences between Sarbanes's bill and Representative Michael Oxley's bill (HR 3763) and on July 24, 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was passed." Read on for the rest of Ben's review.
Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan
author
Frank W. Abagnale
pages
256
publisher
Broadway Books
rating
8
reviewer
Ben Rothke
ISBN
0767925866
summary
exposes the tactics of today's identity theft criminals and offers strategies to thwart them
The bottom line is that when politicians really want votes and PR, they can act swiftly. The frustration is exacerbated when politicians choose to do nothing when it comes to identity theft. In Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan, Frank Abagnale details the frustration that consumers face (and will face in the years to come) when their identities are stolen, the ease at which the criminals carry out such crimes, and the months and often years of effort required to regain ones identity.
Abagnale's tenure on the criminal side long ago gives him the advantage that he knows firsthand how criminals think and such an outlook is pervasive throughout the book. Looking at the current state of identity protection, he states that he is personally horrified at how easy identity theft is. In fact, he calls it "a crook's dream come true". The book details incident after incident where criminals and criminal gangs obtained credit in someone else's name with ease.
What makes this worse is that the book shows how we haven't even scratched the surface of the identity theft problem. Everyone, including the FTC agrees that current identity theft figures are quite low, due to the fact that so many cases go unreported or undetected.
The book notes that lenders often miscategorize a good deal of identity theft because it looks like delinquent bills, as opposed to a crime. Only later does the victim realize what has been going on and complains, at which time it becomes apparent that fraud was involved. But by that time, the money has been written off as a credit loss and then appears as negative information on the victim's credit report.
Like many other books on the subject of identity theft, Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan covers the main issues, and makes numerous suggestions on how to control your identity. What is interesting about the book is that Abagnale also focuses on why identity theft is so popular for today's criminals. One of the main reasons it that the person committing the crime has the odds significantly stacked in their favor. The book quotes a Gartner study that found that identity thieves have roughly a 1 in 700 chance of getting caught by law enforcement, which is a figure any criminal would jump at.
The books 13 chapters are written in an easy to read and compelling style. The early chapters detail the prime causes of what makes identity theft such a problem and astutely notes that a large part of the problem is that financial services companies are conducting business today by doling out credit like candy and do almost nothing to ascertain that people really are who they say they are when applying for credit. In addition, issuers of credit in their haste to rack up more business frequently accept a social security number from an applicant at face value, without demanding proof. The book lists many examples of where children and dead people have been given credit.
In chapter 6, the book lists 20 steps one can take in the hope of preventing identify theft. The author notes that since the punishment for identity theft, and the recovery of stolen goods from identity theft are so low, the only viable source of action is prevention by the individual. All 20 steps are fundamental, from protecting your social security number and examining your financial statements, to using a shredder and more.
Chapter 8 lists one of the more important points of the book, in which Abagnale writes that all credit and personal information should be opt-in based, as opposed to the prevalent opt-out requirement. Such an approach is what one would hope Congress would mandate, but does not have the tenacity to do. The problem is that if a consumer does not opt-out, they are giving the financial institution permission to share their personal information with the hundreds and often thousands of affiliates they share data with.
Companies obviously prefer opt-out, which shifts the burden to the consumer to take action to keep their information from being shared. With opt-in, the burden shifts and the financial services company has to prove that consumers granted their consent to have their personal information shared. National opt-in requirements would significant stem the flow of personal information, which is in part why identity theft is so easy to carry out.
Aside from a glaring error in chapter 12 where Abagnale erroneously writes that true authentication is impossible on the Internet and occasionally hawking companies he has financial dealings with, Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan is an interesting and entertaining book on a subject of the fasting growing crime in the USA.
The book details what happens when an apathetic Congress and financial services industry do almost nothing to protect their constituents, and the thieves who have never had it easier. These identity thieves are able to acquire gigabytes of personal information without ever having to leave their workstations. When you factor in that the odds are in their favor of never being prosecuted, it leaves nearly every individual at risk for identity theft.
With Congress dropping the ball and doing nothing, Abagnale shows that it is up to each individual to take responsibility for protecting their own personal information. Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan is indeed a great place to start such an approach.
Ben Rothke is a security consultant with BT INS and the author of Computer Security: 20 Things Every Employee Should Know
You can purchase Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
The bottom line is that when politicians really want votes and PR, they can act swiftly. The frustration is exacerbated when politicians choose to do nothing when it comes to identity theft. In Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan, Frank Abagnale details the frustration that consumers face (and will face in the years to come) when their identities are stolen, the ease at which the criminals carry out such crimes, and the months and often years of effort required to regain ones identity.
Abagnale's tenure on the criminal side long ago gives him the advantage that he knows firsthand how criminals think and such an outlook is pervasive throughout the book. Looking at the current state of identity protection, he states that he is personally horrified at how easy identity theft is. In fact, he calls it "a crook's dream come true". The book details incident after incident where criminals and criminal gangs obtained credit in someone else's name with ease.
What makes this worse is that the book shows how we haven't even scratched the surface of the identity theft problem. Everyone, including the FTC agrees that current identity theft figures are quite low, due to the fact that so many cases go unreported or undetected.
The book notes that lenders often miscategorize a good deal of identity theft because it looks like delinquent bills, as opposed to a crime. Only later does the victim realize what has been going on and complains, at which time it becomes apparent that fraud was involved. But by that time, the money has been written off as a credit loss and then appears as negative information on the victim's credit report.
Like many other books on the subject of identity theft, Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan covers the main issues, and makes numerous suggestions on how to control your identity. What is interesting about the book is that Abagnale also focuses on why identity theft is so popular for today's criminals. One of the main reasons it that the person committing the crime has the odds significantly stacked in their favor. The book quotes a Gartner study that found that identity thieves have roughly a 1 in 700 chance of getting caught by law enforcement, which is a figure any criminal would jump at.
The books 13 chapters are written in an easy to read and compelling style. The early chapters detail the prime causes of what makes identity theft such a problem and astutely notes that a large part of the problem is that financial services companies are conducting business today by doling out credit like candy and do almost nothing to ascertain that people really are who they say they are when applying for credit. In addition, issuers of credit in their haste to rack up more business frequently accept a social security number from an applicant at face value, without demanding proof. The book lists many examples of where children and dead people have been given credit.
In chapter 6, the book lists 20 steps one can take in the hope of preventing identify theft. The author notes that since the punishment for identity theft, and the recovery of stolen goods from identity theft are so low, the only viable source of action is prevention by the individual. All 20 steps are fundamental, from protecting your social security number and examining your financial statements, to using a shredder and more.
Chapter 8 lists one of the more important points of the book, in which Abagnale writes that all credit and personal information should be opt-in based, as opposed to the prevalent opt-out requirement. Such an approach is what one would hope Congress would mandate, but does not have the tenacity to do. The problem is that if a consumer does not opt-out, they are giving the financial institution permission to share their personal information with the hundreds and often thousands of affiliates they share data with.
Companies obviously prefer opt-out, which shifts the burden to the consumer to take action to keep their information from being shared. With opt-in, the burden shifts and the financial services company has to prove that consumers granted their consent to have their personal information shared. National opt-in requirements would significant stem the flow of personal information, which is in part why identity theft is so easy to carry out.
Aside from a glaring error in chapter 12 where Abagnale erroneously writes that true authentication is impossible on the Internet and occasionally hawking companies he has financial dealings with, Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan is an interesting and entertaining book on a subject of the fasting growing crime in the USA.
The book details what happens when an apathetic Congress and financial services industry do almost nothing to protect their constituents, and the thieves who have never had it easier. These identity thieves are able to acquire gigabytes of personal information without ever having to leave their workstations. When you factor in that the odds are in their favor of never being prosecuted, it leaves nearly every individual at risk for identity theft.
With Congress dropping the ball and doing nothing, Abagnale shows that it is up to each individual to take responsibility for protecting their own personal information. Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan is indeed a great place to start such an approach.
Ben Rothke is a security consultant with BT INS and the author of Computer Security: 20 Things Every Employee Should Know
You can purchase Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
The summary extract on the front page has nothing to do with the rest of the summary or the article.
Or I'm confused again...
not a review
It is absolutely correct that in order to combat identity theft effectively, information sharing must be opt-in. In fact, even to report your information to a credit reporting agency, you should have to explicitly authorize such reporting.
Of course, the credit bureaus and other data brokers who make money off your data would scream and holler. They would decry how "credit reporting is a benefit -- it lets you get credit easily and cheaply." Funny thing though -- you cannot refuse this "benefit".
Fizz
Yes, Congress can act rapidly. Unfortunately, it almost always results in a bad law. Sarbanes-Oxley is a great example, it costs a lot more than it saves. The most efficient way to prevent the problems it is designed to curb is by keeping the tax on stock dividends at the same as the tax on capital gains. If a company gives a dividend, it cannot play the accounting games that lead to the abuses that SOX was designed to stop.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
So because Bush quickly signed the the do not call registry into law in 2003 then that is a credit for governments swift action? Telemarketing has been a huge pain in everyones ass and telemarketers calling during diner has been a joke for as long as I can remeber. By 2003 spam and pop ups were doing a great job of helping to make telemarketing obsolete anyways.
The reviewer says that the authors claim that true authentication is impossible on the internet is an error. I think this is more a matter of opinion. The term true authentication, without getting too semantic, is open to a debate that I see being philosophical in nature. If one's definition of true authentication involved, say, eye-to-eye contact, then this obviously couldn't be accomplished on the internet (even a webcam could be spoofed). What do people think? Obviously eye-to-eye contact isn't a great definition, but neither is an RSA ID.
The Do Not Call registry was timely? People have been complaining about unwanted phone solicitations for years and years. That is actually an excellent example of Congress showing that it is incapable of moving quickly enough.
And, finally, lets not forget about the USA PATRIOT act. That passed in 1 night in response to 9/11, and I'm sure my fellow Slashdotters will agree that it was brimming with righteousness and justice. Thank christ Congress acted quickly on that one.
No, I'm afraid kneejerk reactions by Congress are not the answer you seek. The elephant in the room that no one in Congress wants to recognize is that identify theft is so easy now only because we have tied ourselves to our Social Security numbers, something that was never supposed to happen and something that fundamentally undermines the idea of individual privacy and freedom. Do not look to the people who created this problem in the first place to fix it without continuing to divest you of your personal liberties.
And any review that fails to mention that the author was the main character from Catch Me If You Can while mentioning the totally unrelated sarbox bill is probably not very good.
>> It's a fallacy that our elected officials take forever to get things done. Two examples where Washington acted with speed are...
Please can article-posters to slashdot stop assuming all readers are in the USA.
Most of us have no life or identity to steal...
It's a fallacy that our elected officials take forever to get things done.
No, it is not a fallacy. A fallacy is an invalid form of reasoning, not an incorrect statement. Dicto Simpliciter is a fallacy. Circular reasoning is a fallacy. A popular belief which is incorrect is NOT a fallacy, it is merely an incorrect belief. When used in the context of a formal argument, it would be a false premise.
If you are going to use fancy words like "fallacy," get them right.
If the name of the author is familiar, it is because Frank Abagnale's exploits were popularized in the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can. Leo DiCaprio played the Abagnale, with Tom Hanks as Carl Hanratty, the FBI agent tracking him down.
Given Abagnale's extensive knowledge and experience in check (and other) fraud, he speaks with some authority on the sad state of how easy identity theft can be.
Look, man, I was really high when I wrote that chapter; you've got to give me a break.
--
This post brought to you by OnlyIAmMe(TM) ID Theft Prevention, Inc.
Secure your identity today! Plans start at $1,995 for a limited time.
It is my understanding that in at least of the 30 of the 50 states you can "freeze" your credit, not allowing someone else (or yourself) to take out loans, get a credit card, etc. Choicepoint and the other 2 (asshole) credit bureaus are lobbying against this.
It really gets my goat that, contrary to what is in the social security act (it is illegal to use it for anything except SS purposes), our SSNs have become the defacto identifier in terms of any goverment, university, or financial application. Its like a freakin username with no password.
The entire notion of "identity theft" simultaneously preys on the fears of individuals by creating the specter of more bogeymen and promotes the Consumer Information mega-industry.
You want to stop "identity theft?" Make the collection and sale of personal data against the law. Oh wait. That would mean participating in your government.
Today's lesson: we've all gotten exactly what we've put into this issue.
Got Trader Joe's? friendwich.com RSS feeds work now!
For those unfamiliar with Frank W. Abagnale, the author of this book, he was the real-life basis for the movie Catch Me if You Can about his crime spree in the 1960s, during which he took on various fake personalities and passed over $2.5M in bad checks. So he definitely has some practical expertise about the criminal mind and identity theft.
That said, nowadays, identity theft online is a very large section of ID theft related crimes nowadays and I would question his expertise in this area since most of his crimes were committed in a time before the internet or even widespread inter-bank computer networks.
moseman, I'm tried of the political shit, too. The problem is that they're not going to leave us alone to enjoy our "nerd-oriented material" until we make an example out of a few of these cocksuckers. When politicians, at the behest of big telco, takes away the wide-open Internet that we all enjoy, the only "nerd-oriented material" we're going to get is going to come from some division or "strategic partner" of AT&T. Plus, it's not going to be as much fun reading "nerd-oriented material" when all the tech jobs are in Mumbai or Mexico and you're a "Coffee Master" at Starbucks, worrying about whether you're going to need an appendectomy and have to go into bankruptcy.
Michael Ledeen, the famous neo-con who helped the Bush Administration develop the current "proactive, preemptive" approach to foreign policy liked to say that every so often the US needs to take some insignificant country some where, slam them up against the wall a few times, just to let them know that we can still do it.
I feel the same way about tinpot dictators like Cheney and Bush. Every so often in the history of the US, the citizens have to take one of these little shits and teach them who's boss. We did it with Nixon, and Bush makes Nixon look like George Effing Washington.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Aside from a glaring error in chapter 12 where Abagnale erroneously writes that true authentication is impossible on the Internet
While strictly speaking, from a theoretical standpoint, he is, as you say, wrong about true authentication being impossible it is also important to consider the audience to whom this book is speaking. In fact, it can be very difficult for the average user, in practice, to be certain that a particular electronic transaction is secure (there have been several recent studies confirming this). This combined with the fact that the phishers, identity thieves, spammers, and other malcontents are actively subverting the system to trick users in ever more sophisticated and clever ways means that from a practical standpoint, for the average user, this may be good advice (i.e. to consider internet transactions to be unsecured or at the very least suspect). I know that this is Slashdot and we all know better here (i.e. we wouldn't be easily fooled by phishers or get hit with a rootkit or keylogger...or so we hope), but if experts have difficulties then just imagine how the average users feel.
Agreed, Sarb-Ox was put together and passed very quickly, and it shows.
Consultants are in the business of selling billable hours, nothing more. It doesn't matter if they are accountants, lawyers or MBAs. Their advice is what led to the meltdowns at Enron, MCI, etc. They were trying to find clever ways to reinterpret SEC rules and GAAP(Generally Accepted Accounting Procedures). GAAP are not written by the government. The SEC trusts the financial services industry to police itself with its own written policies. That trust was violated.
Sarb-OX was a knee-jerk reaction that created more rules, more oversight, and more billable hours for the financial services industry. The intent was good, but the implementation was flawed, it rewarded the guilty.
Much like our income tax system should be simplified, so should the SEC and GAAP rules be simplified. The amount of paperwork and billable hours that are created just for executives to move a sale, or a loan, or a payment from Q3 to Q4 just to maintain a stock price in the short term to get their bonus is an enormous drain on our entire economy.
Imagine a world where the accounting rules were so simple that the Financial Services Industry could only bill half of the hours next year.
No identity to steal!
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Federal government wants institutions to keep lots of private data forever so they can ask for it when they want to collect your child support, get your tax, or look for terrorists. The best way to solve identity theft is to get private business out of the business of aiding the government to do it's job.
How SOx is presented as an "obviously good" thing. It's killing ipos, it's preventing the little companies from going public and getting funding. Now they can't turn to the public anymore and can only rely on big institutional investors. Yeah, hurray for Sox.
\u262D = \u5350
You have to pay, but the service covers most of the basics.
"I don't think it's selfish, to eat defenseless shellfish." -NOFX
Is not having an identity! Be born a feral child in a large park, scrapping together language and education based on the teach-ins and demonstrations that take place in said park, living off the scraps of the birthday parties and occasional graduation ceremonies in the town...
Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
Once it's locked, anyone trying to pull your credit report will be denied (unless you authorize unlocking it before they try to pull the report). Inability to pull your credit report should result in an automatic denial for things such as opening a bank account or credit card, stopping any identity theft before it happens.
I can't wait until they get rid of Sarbanes-Oxley. Then I'm gonna get rich on the next Enron, Global Crossing, etc. Rich I tell you.
ID theft is just one of the many, many problems with the credit system in the US. The worst problem is with reporting - things are reported to credit bureaus that have nothing to do with credit, much of it is deliberately false both from credit companies and third party debt collector scum, and finally what the credit report is permitted to be used for.
Good examples are credit card companies deliberately not reporting credit limits to drop your coveted 'score' (so you are ALWAYS over the limit), to third party debt collectors re-aging old debt, to out and out falsifying payment records, etc...
And, then there are other things like medical bills. Why are unpaid medical bills on a credit report? It is not credit, and has no bearing on your ability or desire to pay your mortgage or car loan. Tough luck that you didn't have insurance - you should have thought about that before you went and got cancer. Or what about that fenceline dispute you had with your neighbor that you took to small claims court. You lost, there was no monetary award, yet a judgement still appears on your 'credit' report. Plain wrong.
Oh, and then there is permissible purpose. Exactly what does a credit report have to do with a job? How about insurance? How many people were 'right-sized' into 'bad credit'? Now you can't get another job because your credit is bad? C'mon, does anyone see something wrong with this? Credit reports are about useless for determining credit worthiness for a myriad of reasons, and we want them applied here to? Give me a break. Got 'bad' credit? Can't rent now either - so where the hell are you supposed to live? The problem of people using credit reports for things other than granting credit is big and getting a lot bigger, but will anyone stand up an write Congress about it? And you can forget cable, direct tv, cell phone plans, satellite radio, or any other services. Down in Texas they are raising gas utility rates on people who have bad credit. Wake up people! Not all people have bad credit on purpose even in the absence of ID theft.
The system is a horrible disgrace - designed to bilk billions out of the public - nothing more, even if you leave ID theft out of it altogether.
Until there are laws passed that are stronger than the FCRA and impose criminal penalties and much higher fines, you will never see the end of this.
It does not matter what you do, it's wrong.
There are millions of illegal immigrants working with fake SSNs. They Give fake SSNs to hospitals, cell phone providers, banks, tax collectors, schools, etc. How would illegal immigrants operate if you had tough penalties for using someone else's SSN? This is one of the biggest politically sensitive roadblocks to better identity theft protection in this country.
Pass a federal law that states (reiterates?) that an individual has ownership of their personal data.
Any use of that data would require opt-in or, better yet, payment to its owner.
The credit reporting firms are snooping on us now and making money from it. Let's see how viable their business model would be if the free lunch were taken away. Screw parasitic middlemen.
Get your teeth into a small slice: the cake of liberty
There is no need for whatsoever for SarBOx. Except:
...and on and on.
Worldcom
Sunbeam
Adelphia Communications
Tyco International
Global Crossing
Qwest
How quickly we forget.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/prescre en.shtm/
http://www.optoutprescreen.com/
Have a fake identity! ;-)
Identity theft does not exist. It is nothing more than fraud and should not be a problem for the consumer. If I make up a totally fake identity and get loans how is this any different from identity theft? This simple fact should be legislated to make sure it is observed.
History lesson for PopeRatzo:
1. George Washington marched troops into people's houses and demanded taxes on their stills. (Whiskey Rebellion)
2. George Washington talked of God and Faith in many of his speeches, just like the evil Religious Rightist G.W.
3. F.D.R. put Japanese into camps and opened people's mail during WWII. He preemptively attacked Germany, even though it was the Japanese who attacked us.
4. Kennedy got us into Vietnam, and preemptively attacked Cuba, then left people for dead and denied it.
5. The evil big telco and big oil provide jobs and products that people want. Congress, which has been controlled by Democrats 85% of the last century, made the rules that big telco and big oil follow.
6. Marxism and Leftism have produced more poor people and dictatorships than Capitalism ever has.
Time to start stealing identities.
It seems to me that we'd go a long way in fixing identity theft if we stopped treating knowledge of personal info as proof you are that person. My cable company uses my social security number as "proof" that it's really me - but god only knows how many people know my social security number. My bankers, my employer (and everyone who can touch the payroll system) my doctors office, my insurance companies. The list is very long.
It should be illegal to use the SSN as a shared secret, and anyone who does use it as a secret identifier should be liable for any expenses they incur. VISA would be a lot more effective at combating fraud if they had to pay for every false credit card opened in my name.
Even better, if we didn't have to treat SSNs as secret information anymore, it'd make our lives a lot easier. The SSN is a great primary key for me - it's one number I can remember, and it does a good job of uniquely identifying me. I want to be able to give it to more people.
If Congress really can act quickly when it wants to, a good way to bring this about is to require all members of Congress to publicly disclose their SSN on January 1st 2008.
If I had mod points my friend your post would have them... This is probably the most accurate (however sarcastic) description of how things actually work on /. Bravo!
$diff terrorists hippies
$
$rm -rf *terrorists *hippies
If I wasn't also an AC, I would mod you insightful. They way you demonstrated the error of the grandparent post and backed up your case with links and supporting evidence really shows your intellectual superiority.
I am sure the GP poster read your post and thought, "you know, he has a good point. I was mistaken. I should thank him for pointing that out and work harder at verifying my facts before posting in the future. I wish more people would make useful posts like that."
Way to go!
It would have been nice if they had taken some time to consider what the problem was, and then decide if additional legislation was required.
I am not familiar with the entire text of Sarbanes-Oxley. I am familiar with the effects of some parts of that act and I have a hard time understanding the need for it. A lot of time and effort is spent on activities that generate a lot of paperwork, with few obvious returns for anyone.
Maybe it's just me? You see, I was under the impression that it was illegal for executives to falsify SEC filings and steal from the shareholders BEFORE Sarbanes-Oxley. The need for this legislation was never obvious to the likes of me.
Sociopaths like Ken Lay and Bernie Ebbers are going to do what they are going to do regardless of the laws on the books. The existing laws didn't stop Lay and Ebbers, and I doubt that the Sarbanes-Oxley act would have made any difference. Perhaps it would have have made their thefts more difficult to pull off, but at the end of the day if a group of executives and board members band together and tell the same lie, it's really hard for the auditors to prove otherwise.
FWIW, Enron was quite open about what they were doing - it was all in the notes of their SEC filings. Unfortunately, nobody paid any attention to what they were doing as long as the stock kept increasing in value.
I just don't think Sarbanes-Oxley is a good example of a law period, never mind a law that was rushed through the legislative process.
For the record: I am *NOT* a libertarian. I have no use for libertarian ideology. It is naive and completely unworkable.
It just seems to me that the solution to criminal problems (and theft on this scale is clearly a criminal problem) is dull, ordinary police-work. It's very effective, but it takes time and resources and it does not generate a ton of publicity when the politicians need to be seen doing something about an issue they simply do not understand.
I do wonder if there would have been the political will to authorize an investigation and infiltrate the likes of Enron and Worldcom when their stocks were still going up? Would the public have been in favour of hauling Lay and Ebbers off to jail when their own investments were still doing great?
I would like to thing so, but somehow I doubt it...
*** Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?
If a credit reporting agency is providing false statements that are damaging to your reputation (your credit is part of your reputation), can you not sue them for defamation of character? Libel?
;-)
Right now the burden of fixing these issues is too great for consumers. I don't see how reporting false items on a credit report is any different from libel.
Of course, IANAL. I am only using common sense here. And we know there is no room for that in the judicial system.
SOX is lke a full employment act for auditors. This law makes it extremely difficult for a start-up to go public and launch an IPO (Initial Public Offering). As a result, the number of IPOs has dropped dramatically, in favor of merger and acquisitions. But M&A are only a musical chair game among pre-existing stockholders, and do nothing to spread the economic growth of companies among new shareholders.
The big winners here are institutional investors and executives with fat stock-options. The loser is Joe Public who is deprived of a chance to bid a few hundred bucks on the next Google.
In short, SOX doesn't just make auditors richer. It also concentrate the wealth in fewer hands.
Well done, Mr. Sarbanes. Now tell me again, with a straight face, that you care about the small people. I need a good laugh today.
Fantasy: http://ferrisfantasy.blogspot.com/
Whenever you sign up for credit or insurance, there is usually some form with a bunch of small text you're supposed to read. Nobody reads that or is expected to. Thats just how it is. But that goes both ways!
Cross out random sections and initial the changes. Then write in your own clauses preferably with a laser printer so it doesn't stand out. Nine times out of ten, the person activating the account won't even look at the form. They are liable for damages when they don't fulfill the clauses you wrote in.
Were I an anarchist I'd be tempted to stamp QED in big red letters as my response.
... for being too damn stupid to be a good enough con man to have political influence.
The only thing that would have been better is had the author used the Patriot Act as an example of how government can get things done when it has to.
Others have talked about Sarbanes Oxley, so I'll skip the inanity of that in a world where Mega Corp can afford the extra accountants/consultants/lawyers/PR people to find loopholes and manipulate the damn thing.
But the "stop telemarketers law"? That was really great, wasn't it. We don't have to listen to a zillion ads for scam products by enterprises who at least are constrained by the price mechanism.
Instead, we get to listen to a zillion-squared ads for scam artist politicians who cant get a day job other than lobbying other scam artist politicians to steal our money in taxes for their stupid ideas that they couldn't get us to pay for otherwise.
Neat wasn't it, how the law to end obtrusive telemarketing had this minor little exception for "not-for-profits."
I can't help remembering a fragment of Robert Heinlein's _Expanded Universe_, something lik "can you remember anything of value coming out the Washington Beltway in the last 40 years?" Only problem is -- he wrote the darn thing 27 years ago. No one was listening then, Saint Robert. And, alas, no one is listening now. Though I suppose we Heinlein fans could start telemarketing. Hmm.
No. Better not. Can't afford the accountants to make sure my company accounting is all straight or the lawyers to keep me out of Gitmo.
Yeah, I know. I'm just bitter
Listen. Think. Repeat.
Rants of this author can also be ignored at www.listenthinkrepeat.com/wordpress.
What would happen if you went after a credit-reporting organization for libel?
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
I heard that radio ad and also wondered how long he would last! Here's an Url for the news story about his little "loss".
Here in Joisey, should it happen dat some low life scum steals your identity, Vinnie pays dem a visit. He users der eyes for icepick holders, and shoves der kneecaps up der ass. Did I say Vinnie? I must have mispoke myself. Vinnie was at a party in Rhode Island, with a bunch of identity theft victims. You know, a support group. Dey all swears he was der. Dat was a terible ting dat happened to dat guy. Maybe he should retire now.
Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.
Jews behind all three credit report agencies
....
... THE STAR OF DAVID!!
Jews behind Visa and MasterCard
Jews behind major banks in the world
They control everything about finance
Remember what the bible (somewhere in the book of revelation) said... without the mark of the beast, you can't buy or sell
and the number of the beast is 6-6-6
6 lines , 6 triangles, 6 vertex
Now that we have that out of the way, let me tell you that credit reports are an essential part of screening rental applicants. The reason you doubt this is that you are used to credit scoring and loan applications. You believe that FICO and its cousins are a worthless predictor of tenant performance, and of course you are right about that. FICO was designed for decisioning unsecured consumer loans, not for rental applications.
On the other hand, credit reports are a treasure trove of information that is useful to landlords. When I'm evaluating an applicant, I don't even look at the credit score. What I'm looking for are:
- Public records where you lost a lawsuit against your landlord - If your landlord had to sue you in order to get you to pay rent, or if you bring frivolous lawsuits against your landlords, then you are a headache that I don't want
- Collections against you related to housing, especially utilities - If you don't like paying your gas bill in the winter, I'll let you freeze someone else's pipes when the utility cuts you off
- A minimum of 12 months of paying your bills on time - Lots of people have terrible credit scores for one reason or another (divorce, medical, etc.), but if you've gotten your life back on track, you pass.
But apparently not being able to borrow money has something to do with being able to pay money one already earns. Oh, you have no idea. I've seen it all. It doesn't matter how much money people make, they have a way to blow it all. My tenants all drive nicer cars than me, have nicer TVs than me, video game consoles, DirecTV, the works. Sure, I could buy those things, but I'd rather buy more property.The point is this: I don't care if you pay Providian or Capital One or whomever gave you the credit you "deserve". As long as you are enlightened enough to know that your housing gets paid before anybody else, then you're good in my book.
And you might claim that I am biased when I think that housing payments come first, but when have you ever stiffed your landlord or mortgage lender? Never, of course, because you don't want to get kicked out onto the street.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
As a mass of consumers, we don't have the lobbying funds that big corporate does to get their interests across. We need an alternative means to lobby. Now if we could get identity thieves to prey upon congressmen...
My webcomic
If you just use the word piracy often enough the government will pass lots and lots of bills to protect us from them thar pirates!
By the way, I notice you didn't list Abe Lincoln canceling habeas corpus during the Civil War. That's a good thing, because he did it by going to Congress and asking, unlike your little hero in the White House.But the really juicy rules that the oil companies love, have come since George Bush hit the jackpot on 9/11/2001.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Sure he has some good advice, but he supports credit monitoring which is like paying protection money to the credit reporting companies. Does he mention credit freezes at all? If not, why bother listening to him. Solving ID theft is two part: lock down your credit reports and lock down your data (the much harder of the two).
Informing people about the scams, shams, and bunk that assault them on a daily basis. http://www.jeremyduffy.com
Note that he said "it's a fallacy that our politicians take FOREVER to get things done." Actually, that's not saying very much: of course it's a fallacy; "forever" is a ridiculous exaggeration. Doesn't mean they don't take a HELL of a long time though ;)
I've seen it expressed here several times that, "VISA would be a lot more effective at combating fraud if they had to pay for every false credit card opened in my name." Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. ANYTHING that VISA or Mastercard are forced to 'pay' for is NOT coming out of their profits. Are you kidding me? You must be high. That would show responsible behavior. Do you know who will pay for anything VISA or Mastercard are found liable for? Wait for it... MERCHANTS AND OTHER CARD HOLDERS!!! Yes, merchants and other card holders will pay for it through increased fees, penalties, late charges, and any other rubbish the card companies can come up with to pass the buck. Do you REALLY think management is going to choke down that bitter pill when they can just dump those expenses off on their cardholders and merchants? No f'n way! They're going to shore up their profits and raise their fees. This is all a game of duck duck goose where we run around and around, passing the blame to someone else, who passes it on still. It's all about responsibility, and no-one wants to accept any. The credit card companies, the credit agencies, the banks, the government, nobody is willing to step up and admit any culpability for the problem. So we sit here playing duck duck goose, and goose gets stuck with the bill. Anything else would be uncivilized.
Thanks for the link, the plot certainly thickens!