Identity theft

About: Identity theft is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2284 publications have been published within this topic receiving 31700 citations.

Gauging the effectiveness of US identity theft legislation

Abstract: Purpose – To examine identity theft in the United States and to provide an overview and assessment of recent legislation designed to assist identity theft victims and punish offenders.Design/methodology/approach – Statistics on the prevalence of identity theft are included, as well as details from a fact‐based, fairly typical case of identify theft. An overview of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) and the Identity Theft Penalty Act (ITPEA) are provided, and the provisions of each act are analyzed.Findings – It will take time to determine to what extent the provisions in FACTA and ITPEA will prevent or reduce identity theft. No doubt, in the future, there will amendments to both acts.Research limitations/implications – Future empirical studies could inform all interested parties by examining the impact of the FACTA and ITPEA over a multi‐year time frame. Moreover, cross‐cultural comparisons focusing on the ways in which other nations address identity theft will also shed light on the is...

What Price Privacy? (and why identity theft is about neither identity nor theft)

Abstract: : It is commonplace to note that in surveys people claim to place a high value on privacy while they paradoxically throw away their privacy in exchange for a free hamburger or a two dollar discount on groceries. The usual conclusion is that people do not really value their privacy as they claim to or that they are irrational about the risks they are taking. Similarly it is generally claimed that people will not pay for privacy; the failure of various ventures focused on selling privacy is offered as evidence of this. In this chapter we will debunk these myths. Another myth we will debunk is that identity theft is a privacy problem. In fact it is an authentication problem and a problem of misplaced liability and cost. When these are allocated to those who create them, the problem does not exist. Finally we consider the oft asked question of how much privacy should be given up for security. We find this to be the wrong question. Security of institutions may decrease and infrastructure costs may be increased by a reduction in privacy.

Privacy requirements specification for digital identity management systems implementation: Towards a digital society of privacy

Abstract: Knowing more details about people's identities is in the same time becoming one of the digital society's growing needs and compromising security. Privacy protection is perceived as medium that would secure people's identities, reduce identity theft and increase trust. In many digital identity management system implementation initiatives, privacy needs are only dealt from technical perspective and they are not considered as being part of the core software requirements from the beginning of projects. In this article, we explain that privacy is to be dealt from the start with an integrated and multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, we provide a specification of privacy requirements that are drawn from global, domestic, and business-specific privacy policies. The requirements are to be considered in the design phase of digital identity management systems.

Did Privacy Cause Identity Theft

Abstract: This essay argues that the decline of public identities over the past three decades, combined with increasing secrecy in the process of identification, is the root cause of the burgeoning problem of identity theft. Identity theft is easy because impersonation increasingly takes place in private transactions that are invisible to the victim. The essay compares two proposed solutions: Professor Daniel Soloves' architectural approach and the author's Public Identity System. Both would make the identification process transparent to the person identified, put imposters at risk by requiring personal appearances, and ban the use of social security numbers as passwords. But the two writers take opposing positions with respect to continued secrecy of the information used to identify consumers. Solove would maintain the link between identification information (name and social security number) and personal information (information descriptive of the consumer or the consumer's circumstances) and seek to impose better security to keep all of it from thieves. The author would sever the link between the two kinds of information, make identification information - which is harmless - public, and allow consumers to use it to create public, thief-proof identities. The essay explains the operation of the Public Identity System the author proposed in Human Identification Theory and the Identity Theft Problem, 80 Texas Law Review 89 (2001) and addresses Solove's objections related to the public display of social security numbers, consumer profiling, stalking, marketing abuse, and other aspects of the proposed System.

Policing internet fraud : a study of the tensions between private and public models of policing fraudulent activity in cyberspace with particular focus on South Korea and special reference to the United Kingdom and the United States

Abstract: As more people obtain online access and the finance sector becomes transformed by networked technology, opportunities for internet fraud grow. In recent years we have seen the maturation of new digital environments in which financial transactions can take place while at the same time we have seen an explosion in incidences of identity theft. This unprecedented rise in internet fraud is depressing growth in e-commerce activities and is creating growing demands by governments, the commercial sector and also the public for an appropriate model of policing. This thesis will explore the policing of internet fraud and it will argue the scope of police work with regard to white collar crime, because the public believe that police forces do not effectively control internet fraud and non-internet fraud. By drawing upon various global sources this thesis analyzes the tensions between the respective interests of the public and the private sectors. Such tensions raise concerns about how public resources are most effectively allocated in the public interest. Although internet fraud is a globalized phenomenon and indeed the UK and the US are notably mentioned, the analysis has specially focused on South Korea. At the core of the thesis is the observation that a major conflict of interests emerges when the private and public models of policing compete for "ownership" over internet fraud, so before exploring the laws, rules and enforcement models for policing internet fraud, it is first necessary to remove the tensions that exist between and within policing bodies. Two significant tensions were examined: firstly, the tension caused by different characteristics and objectives of private and public models of policing. Whereas the public police pursue the public interest thorough a public model of justice, the private sector polices problems in their own private interest along a private/corporate model of justice. Secondly, tensions are also created within the public policing sector by intra-govemmental competition. For example, the South Korean National Police have attempted to obtain independent investigatory powers while the Prosecutors' Office strongly defends its ownership of investigatory powers.