[TriLUG] Identity Theft (was Re: Security)

[Robby Dermody]

If I remember correctly, the SSN originally came with the promise from
our 'gobment' (basically worthless these days) stating that it would
only be used for government-related activities, and there was
legislation protecting from its use in the corporate sector and
elsewhere.

Well a few years ago it seems that legislation was overturned (was it
during the Clinton administration?) due to heavy corporate lobbying.

I'd love to become a blank (I thought/think one still can opt-out of the
social security program altogether, but I've heard the spooks come after
you (much like if you opt-out of paying your other taxes) and lets face
it -- having a social security number is so darn necessary these days,
as John had stated earlier.)

What makes thing very scary is how easily one can obtain these social
security numbers, which hold such great importance in our society. The
latest example has been that fiasco with the Ford records on 13,000 or
so customers.

Robby

On Sun, 2002-05-19 at 12:49, John Franklin wrote:
> On Fri, May 17, 2002 at 12:28:08PM -0400, Andrew C. Oliver wrote:
> > M. Mueller wrote:
> > 
> > >On Friday 17 May 2002 11:31 am, <Andrew C. Oliver> wrote:
> > >>Lets talk likelyhood per amount of effort.  Its fairly unlikely I'd be a
> > >>target due to the pure lack of gain.  
> > >>
> > >
> > >Identity theft is the concern.  Unsecure wireless networks could provide 
> > >enough information about a person to impersonate them.  By impersonating 
> > >someone you can get a line of credit and leave the real indentity owner 
> > >with the responsibility of paying off the bills.  
> > >
> > And the amount of effort you'd need to go through to get this out of my 
> > wireless network versus just walk by and pick up my garbage kind of make 
> > me less concerned about that.
> 
> It happened to my sister.  She ordered checks through the bank and they
> never showed up.  Turns out someone stole them (at the printer's, IIRC) 
> and starting using them.  She notified the bank and closed the account
> immediately, but that didn't stop a number of items from showing up on
> her credit report.  It took months for the police to finally arrest the
> woman.
> 
> Identity theft is a serious concern, but there are so many ways to have
> your identity stolen that the only real way to protect yourself is to
> become a blank, buy everything with cash, and never use your SSN.  Since
> we need to use our SSN to get a job and file tax returns, we can't
> really isolate ourselves.
> 
> Privacy is a huge issue.  Politically, it'll take a major failure
> somewhere before it takes a front stage position.  When it does,
> technology solutions that protect privacy will become all the rage.  The
> crux of the technology problem is that anything that can be made can be
> forged.  Your signature can be forged.  A card with a magnetic strip or
> a chip can be duplicated.  Biometrics?  Fooled with gummi bears.  (was
> that article posted here, or did I see in on Another List?)
> 
> Sadly, it's a situation that doesn't really need new technology, it
> needs the systems in place to work as intended.  None of the checks
> written by the woman who stole my sister's checks should have been
> accepted.  The signature was nowhere near a match.
> 
> 
> jf
> -- 
> John Franklin
> franklin at elfie.org
> ICBM: 35°43'56"N 78°53'27"W
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-- 
Robby Dermody
Avalon Entertainment
eMail: robbyd at avalonent.org
web: www.avalonent.org
aim: nova0523

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