Comments on: Personal Info on Public Officials Posted on Web

By: Cornfields

Cornfields — Wed, 25 May 2005 23:45:39 +0000

Seems to me that the problem is not so much in the "theft," than in the ease of use. Rather than trying to put SS numbers back in the box, we need to make them less useful to thieves. Generally the free spread of information is for the best... on the other hand it needs to be harder to use this information to take out credit cards, loans etc. Of course there is a trade off, here. But if it would reduce the number of credit card come ons in my mailbox, I am all for it!

By: PAXALLES

PAXALLES — Wed, 25 May 2005 22:50:57 +0000

Post-er Person for Identity Theft - Minutewoman BJ Ostergren

Post-er Person for Identity Theft - Minutewoman BJ Ostergren

By: Don Singleton

Don Singleton — Wed, 25 May 2005 15:49:11 +0000

A Matter Of Public Record

I applaud the local governments making public data available online, but they should non show things like Social Security numbers or signatures. This even points out how bad it is that Social Security numbers are used for identification, yet the soci...

By: Just Me

Just Me — Wed, 25 May 2005 15:14:22 +0000

I think more can be done, but I don't think there is anyway to stop identity theft. The government can raise the bar, but theives, being theives will quickly find the backdoor.

The problem is right now, we haven't even attempted to keep up with the technology and the theives don't even have to go to the back door, because we have left the front door wide open.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 25 May 2005 14:46:01 +0000

Her point that thieves won't go to a hard copy to get the info is invalid too.

The hard copies (I think - I could be wrong, it could have been electronic versions) of the Congressional Record were used to steal the identities of several flag grade (and possibly some more junior) officers by pulling their social security numbers off their info when their promotions were confirmed. The SSN is no longer included in the Record because of this.

A friend's dad was one of the victims and it took him a while to get it straightened out.

By: Free Money Finance

Free Money Finance — Wed, 25 May 2005 14:29:37 +0000

Important Money News

I usually don't post about money news (though I plan to in the future), but I saw two articles on MSNBC.com this morning that I thought were important enough to pass along. They both deal with the security of financial

By: FMF

FMF — Wed, 25 May 2005 14:26:34 +0000

Why is it that Congress can spend countless hours and resources on steroids in professional sports but can't get some solid legislation passed on identity theft?????

Does this seem to be a bit of mis-placed priority to anyone else?

It's getting pretty scary out there. See this post from yesterday: http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2005/05/money_news.html