Slashdot Mirror
Loss of Personal Info As Stressful As Losing a Job
An anonymous reader writes "Americans feel most vulnerable about the loss or theft of their personal or financial information, according to a national survey. 54% of Americans said the prospect of losing this data 'extremely concerned' them. Losing personal or financial information ranked similar to concern over job loss and not being able to provide healthcare for their family. In terms of specific risks within the online threat landscape, identity theft ranked as the chief fear. Nearly a third of Americans reported identity theft as their greatest concern to personal safety and security on the Internet. The fear of someone hacking into their financial information or accounts ranked a close second, with a quarter of Americans listing it as their greatest worry."
You can get a new job within hours of losing the old one. You can't get banks and the police to trust you again THAT quickly after your identity's been abused to commit frauds.
And yet I'm positive many have no anti-virus,put lots of interesting information on their facebook or whatever, and click interesting links.
... those same people will continue to use their pet's name as the password to their online bank account.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
IL is baning credit checks for most jobs and bad credit can come from getting sicks and running big bills with or without benefits.
Send this link to the following people:
- Facebook CEO, who said that the meaning of the word privacy is changing thanks to Facebook and that the need for and expectation of privacy on the Internet should be and will be a thing of the past.
- Google CEO, who said that if you don't want other people to know about something you do, you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.
These people need to realize that respecting and protecting privacy of their users is mandatory, not a thing of the past.
As a victim of identity theft and someone who has lost his job in the past, I can say that, in many ways, identity theft is more stressful. If you lose a job, you need to worry about not having money and you need to find another job. Once you find a job, though, that worry goes away (or at least goes back to normal levels).
When your identity is stolen, your information is now "out there." Even if the thief is captured (unlikely), he might have shared the information with a dozen other people or have purchased the information from someone who sold it to other people. This means that plugging one leak doesn't end the stress as other leaks could pop up at any time.
In addition, you don't merely need to deal with one company (ala getting hired). You need to deal with at least three big credit agencies that really don't care if your identity was stolen. You need to prove to them that they have the wrong information on file. You might also need to deal with collection agencies who really don't care that you're not the one who bought that boat in Florida and the stereo equipment in California. You might also need to deal with credit card companies who (like the credit agencies) really only care about their profits and don't see your identity theft claim as "profitable." Then there's dealing with police officers who, while they might be well-meaning, really have no training to deal with these crimes and possibly no jurisdiction for the crimes.
With all that stress, it's a good thing the FBI has made Identity Theft a top priority. Oh, wait, they haven't.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
How do you "lose" your personal info?
If someone makes a copy, you still have all your info, so you haven't really lost anything, right?
Isn't that what many folks here have been telling us? If you download data, it's just a copy. You're not depriving the owner of any property, so it isn't theft.
How is making a copy of your SSN or other identifying information theft or loss? Data wants to free, right?
I wonder what percentage of Americans are worried about loosing their intellectual property?
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/08/10/216252/FBI-Prioritizes-Copyright-Over-Missing-Persons
Like with most things, 54% of Americans are extremely concerned about the safety of their data, but maybe 1% actually bother to do something about it.
One day I woke up to find that my age and hair color had been stolen. It was awful walking around being ageless and having hair with no color. Fortunately, I found that an ex-friend had stolen, and took them back from him. I could never figure out what use he had for them, but it's nice to have them back.
Indeed, the one time my information got stolen, it was the result of incompetence on the part of TD Ameritrade. Just last week I got another call from scammers at the "US Pharmacy" wanting to know about my prescriptions for Cialis and Viagra. I'm not a doctor, but I don't think that people generally take those medications together. I suspect the results would be somewhat less enjoyable than one would expect. Last time they called they wanted to know about my prescription for Benzodiazapene. I have prescriptions for none of those medications, they were just trying to trick me into giving them my CC number. I called him a liar and hung up immediately. Piece of shit ought to be in pound me in the ass with a "male enhanced" dick prison.
Whoever at TD Ameritrade was responsible for maintaining the security of their databases, I feel similarly about. The settlement was an absolute insult. After they lost the information they were allowed to pay people back with free trades. Only an idiot would still be with a firm that was that disinterested in proper security measures. Meaning that they paid a few cents per person and got off basically free for those of us with the intellect to move our money elsewhere.