Identity Theft

Every day, it seems, the newspapers carry another story about a security breach at some company whereby sensitive personal information for tens of thousands of people was either inadvertently disclosed or allowed to be hacked. In the latest incident, the Lexis/Nexis Group disclosed that names, addresses and social security numbers of 30,000 people have fallen into the hands of thieves. Most of us know Lexis as one of the pioneers in the electronic legal research business but the company has obviously branched out. This latest breach occurred when the passwords of legitimate users were somehow obtained by unknown individuals who prospected the supposedly secure database. Of course, this all invites the question, why do the “legitimate” users need our social security numbers in the first place. But back to the unauthorized use of this information: Congress has to pass legislation prohibiting these companies from packaging and selling our personal information without our consent. Otherwise, confidence in and acceptance of electronic commerce will fade and years of progress and innovation will be lost.