ID Theft On The Rise, So Are Misguided Reactions

from the bad-medicine dept

The increasing rate of identity theft -- or at least its increased media coverage -- has consumers worried the world over. But a survey in the U.K. shows that what people are doing with these legitimate concerns leaves something to be desired. For starters, their fears of identity theft are causing some of them to completely cease their online shopping and banking. How this will help protect them from dumpster diving or a major security breach is anyone's guess. Indeed, most identity theft probably occurs offline, rather than online. Still, survey respondents were four times more likely to worry about online checkouts than what companies do with their data. What else do they think should be done? More than half the respondents said the government's proposed ID card would best protect them against identity theft, ignoring that it would probably make it easier to steal someone's identity by providing thieves with a single, simple point of failure. But of course, that would be an offline concern, and no one seems all too concerned about that. It all seems like just another case of misguided security fears.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    dorpus, 24 May 2005 @ 11:02pm

    How about kiddie cops?

    One city has taken to hiring 6-year-olds as police officers.

    http://forum.japantoday.com/Akita_Hires_6%2Dyear%2Dold_Police_Officers/m_452058/tm.htm

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    John, 25 May 2005 @ 11:27am

    Cops Don't Care

    Having both been a victim of and knowing other who have been victims of ID theft, the most common frustration is the fact that most police departments simply don't care about identity theft. They consider it a low priority and too complex to investigate so they simply hand you a police report and leave it to you to handle all the collection agencies and banks that will hound you for weeks. The state of Washington, for example, touts on the Attorney General's website that the state has "one of the toughest identity theft laws in the nation" yet a friend who is going through this stuff right now was recently told by the police in Bellevue that "it isn't our problem." In my own case, the police even initially refused to take a police report claiming that "you should sue the guy, it's a civil matter." All the laws in the world won't help if the useless cops simply don't care.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.