Privacy and the Web Concerns about the impact of digital networks on personal privacy have been raised as long as there have been digital networks. For the past decade, researchers and developers alike have created a formidable array of utilities and tools to protect Internet privacy. Identity Theft Identity theft will be the undoing of the blissful ignorance we have maintained with respect to the misuse of SSNs. As any victim can attest, identity theft can destroy personal credit and potentially lead to very expensive litigation from which it may take years, or perhaps decades, to fully recover. And computer technology is right at the heart of the problem.
Identity theft works in the following way.
Important information is compiled on someone with good credit. With that number, one can potentially access all of the databases which use SSNs as primary database key. In urban areas, identity theft rings eagerly pay a premium for stolen wallets that contain the SSN and other identifying data the stolen credit cards can be left for the street urchins. Of course, this would be a problem even if it were not for the Internet as personal records in each state and municipal database could be accessed with very little information SSN, mother s maiden name, address, etc. would do for starters. But what complicates things is the reckless abandon with which we have allowed the collection and dissemination of highly personal and confidential information the Web.