TransWorldNews reports on identity theft:
In late April, the Federal Identity Theft Task Force, formed last year to investigate this crime, released findings and recommendations. According to Robert Siciliano, a widely televised and quotedpersonal security and identity theft expert, the announcement was one more example of government bureaucracy seemingly unable to counter identity theft in a timely manner.
“Identity theft happens fast,” said Siciliano. “Ask anyone who’s been a victim. A year’s time at the mercy of an identity thief could mean a life’s savings gone. While we need government intervention to stop identity theft, we also need it to happen on identity theft’s timetable, not a bureaucracy’s.”
Governments can’t do much about much to prevent any type of victimization, because governments apprehend criminals after-the-fact, not beforehand. We need to stop identity thieves before they attack, because we can rarely trace them down since they use alternative identities to commit their crime. Fake names, numbers and such leaves little to track a person down.
The entire crime takes place in the private sphere. The victim, the banks, the credit agencies, the merchants and everyone involved has nothing to do with government. All these entities need to work together to find ways to stop identity theft, not wait on government to do something.
The real question is: Do banks and credit agencies really care about identity theft? Only if it costs them money, do they care. And, usually it’s individuals and small merchants who get charged for identity theft.
What do you think?
Thursday, October 30th 2008 at 7:04 am
Very interasting to read, but to question my mind with that is pretty frustrating, dont you think?