The General Accounting Office released a report on Identity Theft today. The report provides information on how Identity Theft laws are being enforced at the Federal and State level. The report found no comprehensive data on enforcement results, but finds that it is increasingly being seen as a serious crime. Some police departments, however, still consider ID theft to be a non traditional crime and because it happens across several jurisdictions they see it as someone else�s problem. Additionally, the report finds that state and federal agencies are not making use of existing data sources such as the Federal Trade Commission�s Consumer Sentinel Network, which collects ID Theft data in one central database. Investigative departments have been reluctant to use this information because they have limited resources and ID theft cases take a lot of effort for relatively light sentences. The upshot of the report for consumers is that while the government is taking some steps to crack down on ID thieves, it is clear that consumers need to be ever vigilant about guarding their personal information.
Sweeping powers enabling law-enforcement and intelligence agencies to demand the communications records of British telephone and internet users may be illegal, according to legal advice obtained by the Information Commissioner. The Commissioner warned the Home Office that the new powers may breach human rights law because website, email or phone logs available strictly for national security investigations can be accessed by police or intelligence officers for more minor cases such as public health and tax collection. Assistant Commissioner David Smith said that, �The upshot of it all is someone who uses Ripa powers to get access to retained data may be breaching human rights law." He added: "There is agreement generally that the Home Office was in a hurry. They wanted to respond to the events of September 11 and they were under pressure, but they could have thought these issues through more."
Thomas of Klamath Falls, Oregon first discovered problems with her credit
report in 1996 when a number of unfamiliar, unpaid debts appeared. She
traced the bad debts to Upton, then of Stevenson, Wash., and reported her
discovery to Trans Union. She also contacted the creditors who furnished the
information to Trans Union.
In 1999, when she applied for a mortgage, the incorrect information
reappeared on her Trans Union report. The incorrect reports delayed her
mortgage by three months. She had to work hard to get the reports cleared again without any assistance from Trans Union. Trans Union had deleted some incorrect accounts in 1996, but by 1999 had reinstated most of them, according to her attorneys.
"I hope it will cause them to change the way they do business because I
don't think I'm the only one this has happened to," Thomas said.
William "Todd" Adams was arrested on June 14 after being accused of molesting four young girls at a martial-arts center. Adams was hired by the state after an FBI background check, which came clean. The girls� parents believe that Adams has sealed juvenile records held information that would have prevented him from being hired. They are petitioning lawmakers to open juvenile records but experts caution that a judge must decide to release information on a case by case basis. "The idea is that delinquent behavior when a child is young should not be held against them for the rest of their lives," said Mark Soler of the Youth Law Center, a nonprofit law office that works to protect abused and at risk children. The campaign in Maryland is part of a growing national trend to open up juvenile records. Nine states now open juvenile records to the public without any restrictions, according to the National Center for Juvenile Justice. The group said another 29 states do so under certain conditions, for example, if the offender was older than 14, or if the crime was serious, such as murder or rape.
"Biometrics show great promise" says Steve Cooper, chief information officer of the Office of Homeland Security. Speaking to Congressional staffers and corporate lobbyists, he described how the Bush administration plans on extensively using biometric identification technology in applications ranging from airport travel documents to building access control. He claims, however, that the technology will not be used to infringe on privacy and civil liberties.
In a chilling article Village Voice reporter Erik Baard details how customer information such as grocery purchases, which were once collected for marketing purposes are now increasingly being used for law enforcement purposes. Companies are voluntarily turning over information to the government without even informing consumers, let alone obtaining their consent. The story also discusses the government's effort to use data-mining software to finger potential criminals and terrorists.
Dr. Koop.com, a medical information website founded by the esteemed Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, is selling customer data as a result of bankruptcy to vitacost.com. The privacy policy of the site promises opt-in protections before information is passed to third parties�a quote on the site by Dr. Koop reads "Privacy is Central to the Doctor-Patient Relationship." However, the company has broken its promise, and vitacost.com will receive personal information unless individuals opt-out by Sunday, July 7, 2002.
A number of cities have passed resolutions to reject the USA PATRIOT Act because they believe that the federal law gives the government too much power.
