Literary works, such as 1984 and Forward to
Foundation, resonate with the increasing concern, and even dissidence,
among mid 20th century intellectuals like Orwell and Asimov with the rapid
pace of technological change. These classics depict the manner through
which a future central governmental figure or force would exercise
monomaniacal control upon persons. As with all cycles in history, the
majority of people will utilize, within the bounds of the law, such change
for personal or public good. The rapid technological changes of our own
time, including the Internet, can be utilized for such public good as the
task of acquiring a telephone number or the ethereal goal of diffusion of
knowledge among the masses. Conversely, with the increasing number of
transactions that are conducted via smaller and smaller telecommunications
devices, home computers and through automated systems, an increasing form
of devastating criminal offense perpetrated by 21st century thieves is
identity theft.
Dictionary.com defines identity theft as, “The crime of obtaining the
personal or financial information of another person for the purpose of
assuming that person’s name to make transactions or purchases.” A 2005
report entitled, “ID Theft: What It’s All About”, states that consumers
daily transact a myriad of electronic business activities, including
charging tickets or conducting a financial related matter. Individual
identifiers can be misappropriated through a number of means, which
include purloining a wallet or purse, “phishing” for data via telephonic
or electronic transactions, theft of records that are unsecured at an
office or at an abode and “dumpster dives”. Thieves can utilize the fruits
of their manifest wrong to engage in such consequential actions as
purchasing goods and services, opening bank accounts and credit cards,
securing personal and/or business loans and submitting fraudulent tax
filings.
The March 2006 Zogby Interactive nationwide poll of 6,703 adults indicated
that older adults constitute the cohort with the most concerns about
identity theft. Ninety-four percent of adults who are 65 and older stated
they worry about the possibility of their identity being compromised.
Moreover, 86 percent of younger adults from the ages of 18-29 indicated
they are also concerned with identity theft. At a mean resolution time of
25 hours per victim in 2007, it is clear identity theft imposes serious
constraints on personal time and treasure. To be sure, folks have a reason
to be concerned as surveys sponsored by partnerships among the Federal
Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau indicated that, in 2007,
identity theft cost Americans some $49 billion.
In May 2006, President Bush signed and issued an executive order entitled
“Strengthening Federal Efforts to Protect against Identity Theft”. Section
1 of the order states that the policy of the U.S. government will be to,
“…use…resources…to deter, prevent, detect, investigate, proceed against,
and prosecute unlawful use…of the identifying information of other
persons….” Sections 2 and 3 of the order establishes a federal task force,
whose members, among others, are to consist of such officers as the
Attorney General, to serve as Chair, the Director of the Federal Trade
Commission, to serve as its Co-chair, the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget, the Commissioner of the Social Security
Administration and the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System. The directive orders that, after conducting a
comprehensive review of departmental, agency instrumentality functions and
policies, the taskforce is to, within 180 days, issue a strategic report
to coordinate and improve the efficiency of the Federal Government’s
activities in the areas of identity theft awareness, prevention, detection
and prosecution.
The essence of the August 2006 report of the President’s Identity Theft
Task Force – entitled “Summary of Interim Recommendations: Prevention –
Improving Government Handling of Sensitive Personal Data” include:
Forms Management
-
Guidance is to be issued by OMB governing notifications of
governmental data breaches and the assistance, if any, to be provided in
the remediation such breaches. OMB and the Department of Homeland
Security, through the interagency effort already underway, are to outline
best practices in the areas of automated tools, training, processes and
standards enabling agency-wide improvement in security and privacy
programs. They are also requested to develop a list of the top mistakes to
avoid in order protecting government information.
-
The Office of Personnel Management, is requested to, in conjunction with
other agencies, conduct a comprehensive review of the use and concealment
of SSNs in its collection and manipulation of human resource data. Steps
are to be instituted to eliminate, restrict or conceal the use of personal
identifiers on OPM related forms. OPM is to issue guidance to the human
capital management community on the use of SSNs. Consistent with
applicable law, all federal agencies should publish a new “routine use”
guidance governing their systems of records under the Privacy Act. All
federal agencies are to review and determine where the use of SSNs can be
eliminated, restricted or concealed.
-
Workshops, involving academics, industry and entrepreneurs, focused on
developing and promoting improved means of authenticating the identities
of individuals should be hosted.
Restitution
- The Federal Trade Commission will develop a universal police report, which an identity theft victim can complete, print, and take to any local law enforcement agency.
-
Congress is recommended to amend the criminal restitution statutes to
allow for restitution from a criminal defendant to an identity theft
victim, in an amount equal to the value of time reasonably spent by such
victim attempting to remediate the intended or actual harm incurred.
Dante Alighieri once stated, “The customs and fashions of men change like
leaves on the bough, some of which go and others come.” Change is a kind
of constant ether of the universe – ebbing and flowing, but always
present. As members of a learned profession, it is rendered to us to
ensure that the customs and fashions of individuals, which are ever in
flux, be utilized for the maximum public good.
Gary C. Norman serves as Vice President, Legal Chair and Spokesperson
for the National Council for Support of Disability Issues, and has
recently been accepted to the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. as an
American Marshall Memorial Fellow.
