Economics Of Identity Theft

This professional book discusses privacy as multi-dimensional, and then pulls forward the economics of privacy in the first few chapters. This book also includes identity-based signatures, spyware, and placing biometric security in an economically broken system, which results in a broken biometric system. The last chapters include systematic problems with practical individual strategies for preventing identity theft for any reader of any economic status. While a plethora of books on identity theft exists, this book combines both technical and economic aspects, presented from the perspective of the identified individual.

Financial identity theft is well understood with clear underlying motives. Medical identity theft is new and presents a growing problem. The solutions to both problems however, are less clear. The Economics of Financial and Medical Identity Theft discusses how the digital networked environment is critically different from the world of paper, eyeballs and pens. Many of the effective identity protections are embedded behind the eyeballs, where the presumably passive observer is actually a fairly keen student of human behavior. The emergence of medical identity theft and the implications of medical data privacy are described in the second section of this book. The Economics of Financial and Medical Identity Theft also presents an overview of the current technology for identity management. The book closes with a series of vignettes in the last chapter, looking at the risks we may see in the future and how these risks can be mitigated or avoided.

This professional book discusses privacy as multi-dimensional, and then pulls forward the economics of privacy in the first few chapters. This book also includes identity-based signatures, spyware, and placing biometric security in an economically broken system, which results in a broken biometric system. The last chapters include systematic problems with practical individual strategies for preventing identity theft for any reader of any economic status. While a plethora of books on identity theft exists, this book combines both technical and economic aspects, presented from the perspective of the identified individual.

Contents: (1) Intro.; (2) Def. of Identity Theft (IT): Theft vs. Fraud; (3) Legis. History: IT Assumption Deterrence Act; IT Penalty Enhancement Act; IT Enforce. and Restitution Act; (4) IT Task Force: Recommend.; Legis. Recommend.; (5) Red Flags Rule; (6) Trends in IT: Perpetrators; Invest. and Prosecutions; FBI; U.S. Secret Service; U.S. Postal Inspect. Service; Social Sec. Admin.; Immigration and Customs Enforce.; Dept. of Justice; Domestic Impact; Document Fraud; Employ. Fraud; (7) Data Breaches and IT; (8) Issues for Congress: IT Prevention; Securing Social Security No. (SSN); Effects of Data Breaches; Deterrence and Punishment; Selected Legislation in the 111th Congress: SSN; Law Enforce. and Consumer Notification. Charts and tables.

This professional book discusses privacy as multi-dimensional, and then pulls forward the economics of privacy in the first few chapters. This book also includes identity-based signatures, spyware, and placing biometric security in an economically broken system, which results in a broken biometric system. The last chapters include systematic problems with practical individual strategies for preventing identity theft for any reader of any economic status. While a plethora of books on identity theft exists, this book combines both technical and economic aspects, presented from the perspective of the identified individual.

This book defines identity theft, studies how it is perpetrated, outlines what is being done to combat it, and recommends specific ways to address it in a global manner.

In the current fiscal environment, policymakers are increasingly concerned with securing the economic health of the United States—including combating those crimes that threaten to undermine the nation's financial stability. Identity theft is one such crime. In 2012, about 12.6 million Americans were reportedly victims of identity fraud, and the average identity fraud victim incurred a mean of $365 in costs as a result of the fraud.

In the wake of the economic downturn, policymakers are increasingly concerned with securing the economic health of the United States-including combating those crimes that threaten to further undermine the nation's financial stability. Identity theft is one such crime. It is the fastest growing type of fraud in the United States; in 2008 about 9.9 million Americans were reportedly victims of identity theft, an increase of 22% from the number of cases in 2007. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that it costs consumers about $50 billion annually. Identity theft is often committed to facilitate other crimes such as credit card fraud, document fraud, or employment fraud, which in turn can affect not only the nation's economy but its security. Consequently, in securing the nation and its economic health, policymakers are also tasked with reducing identity theft and its impact. Congress continues to debate the federal government's role in (1) preventing identity theft and its related crimes, (2) mitigating the potential effects of identity theft after it occurs, and (3) providing the most effective tools to investigate and prosecute identity thieves. With respect to preventing identity theft, one issue concerning policymakers is the prevalence of personally identifiable information?and in particular, the prevalence of social security numbers (SSNs)-in both the private and public sectors. One policy option to reduce their prevalence may involve restricting the use of SSNs on government-issued documents such as Medicare identification cards. Another option could entail providing federal agencies with increased regulatory authority to curb the prevalence of SSN use in the private sector.