QotW 5: Identity Theft….Nothing new

Before I state my point and elaborate, let me explain and describe what is identity theft. In the US, identity theft first appeared in U.S. literature in the 1990s, leading to the drafting of the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act (http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/itada/itadact.htm). Online identity is ‘ambiguous’ since the physical attributes of characteristics and personality is missing (Donath, 1996).

With the rising awareness of consumers to an international problem, in particular through web sites and the media, the term "identity theft" has morphed to encompass a much broader range of identification-based crimes. The more traditional crimes range from dead beat dads avoiding their financial obligations, to providing the police with stolen or forged documents thereby avoiding detection, money laundering, trafficking in human beings, stock market manipulation and even to terrorism.

Ironically however the term "identity theft" is an oxymoron (Wikipedia, Identity Theft). It is not possible to steal a human identity. Human identity is a psychological thing, or the subject of philosophical conversation.

Many a times we use the term "identity fraud" to describe when our means of identification has been exploited for an unlawful purpose. Others believe the thief does deprive the owner of his identity by replacing his reputation with the thief's. Both uses of the term focus on the act of acquiring the legally attributed personal identifiers and other personal information necessary to perpetrate the personation (Wikipedia, Identity Theft).

Another reason why identity theft is the big thing is because it “is the new crime of the information age” (Schneier, 2005). It came part an parcel with the boom of the internet. We hear of techno-geeks who are jobless and bored from 3^rd world countries using credit card information and IDs for banks ect of citizens of the 1^st world countries for money. They pretend to be you, they buy things using your credit card, they use your ebay account to sell things, they use your passwords and get access to all the various accounts you have. They use abuse and exploit you within a day and leave without a trace. Now you see me, now you don’t.

Wait! Doesn’t that sound familiar? If you’ve watched Tamil or Hindi movies it would. There is one movie that pops into my mind when I hear identity theft. In this Tamil movie, like all Tamil movies, starts with one girl who meets this one guy. She falls for him (like DUH!). But here’s the twist; he is not who he says he is. One day he is a shop vendor, the next he is a illegal gambling den owner and the list goes on. He does not tell her who he really is till he falls for her. He tells her that he is running away from some gundaas(mafia/gangsters) and so he has to pretend to be someone he is not. The story goes on with a few dozen songs and even more fighting scenes. In the end, he reforms, and marries her.

Another movie comes to mind, DON, starring Sha Rukh Khan. It is a confusing story, but in a jist, the Don or rather the mafia leader (Sha Rukh Khan) pretends to be his own double while killing him. Confusing right? Well he acts like his double to get to the enemy.

Enough with Indian movies, Catch Me If You Can is another good example of identity theft. Leo pretends to be other people for monetary gains. I do not need to go through the story line, but it is one good example. Face Off is another example of stealing identity of another, no matter how ridiculous it may seem.

We have read news of men and women assuming someone else’s identity while they fake their own death and killing the real person. They blend into the other person’s life and live it.

After all this, online identity is just another persona of the past identity theft. Just like how everything in today’s world has morphed into the Internet; problems and all, so has the irony of identity theft. There are many things that we as users can do to stop our information from spreading and leaking to others. Once we have assured that, it will be difficult for those with time at their disposal to find us and use abuse and exploit us. It is our responsibility to guard ourselves, no one is going to say ‘Oh you know it is wrong to use so-and-so’s information for our gain’. Identity theft may not be something new but it is a bigger problem over the internet. We post anything and everything on the internet about ourselves, family and life and this information can be gathered by anyone to be used against us. So what’s the moral of the story? Do not post personal information on every single site! KAPISH!

You know I should listen to my own advice!!!

Donath. , J, S. (1996). Identity and deception in the virtual community. MIT Media Lab. Retrieved on 15 February 2007, from http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/Identity

Wikipedia, Identity Theft (2007), Retrieved on 17^th February 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_theft

Schneier, Bruce. (2005, April 25). Schneier on Security, Mitigating Identity Theft. Retrieved 19.02, February 13, 2007, from
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/04/mitigating_iden.html