Identity Theft and Public Records
The following is an article written by Ted Moss of Crimcheck.com
- Did you know?
- 50 Billion Dollars is the annual cost of workplace violence
- 50 Billion Dollars is lost because of workplace drug use
- 100 Billion Dollars is what American businesses loose due to employee theft
- Identity theft for employment purposes is on the rise
- Employment screening is a critical component to combating these issues
There is a disturbing trend in this country to curtail and even deny access to “Public Information” and critical personal identifiers regardless of the reasons. Concern about maintaining a balance between access to public records and the privacy of the individual has been a media “Hot Button” as of late. Some believe the solution is to eliminate access to information that is important to the health of our civil and criminal justice systems and would work to the detriment of consumers and businesses alike.
Identity theft was not invented with the advent of the Internet. We’ve been battling it for years, as thieves have obtained personal information through low-tech theft of charge cards and wallets and by rummaging through trash. Legislators should resist the temptation to close one avenue by which some criminals may gain some information by denying that same information to entities who utilize it to fight those same criminals.
A committee of the state Legislature in Utah for instance is considering a plan to pull the window shades on government records again. The Government Operations Interim Committee is meeting this morning to discuss whether to classify birth dates on voter registration rolls as private records. The birth dates are now part of the public record.
The proposal purports to fight identity thieves on the rationale that removing a birth date from the public domain will make a significant difference. Unfortunately removing birth dates will not stop serious identity thieves. But it will help to make Utah government even less transparent to everyone else. If one wants to find an easy way to close public records, the specter of identity theft has evolved into a near-perfect tool. It boils down to horror stories that sound terrible, about the effect on consumer’s lives. Such stories strike an emotional chord, but public policy should not be based on them.
Reducing publicly available information is not going to solve the problem. There is little, if any, evidence that identity thieves use open records laws to acquire information. Making a formal request leaves a paper trail about the requester. Identity thieves have easier ways to get what they want, from sifting through garbage to stealing mail. Some engage in “phising” trips, impersonating a bank or online shopping site and asking people to “resubmit” their personal data.
The current proposal, floated by the state elections office, won’t stop identity thieves. However, taking the birth dates off the voter records makes it harder for independent observers to detect voter fraud. Many other states have considered limiting access and in some cases have severely restricted retrieval of criminal records. In Massachusetts a bill was proposed allowing criminals to “OPT OUT” of having their criminal records made public. The resulting legislation severely limited the type of criminal records that could be used in employment screening including certain drug and theft charges.
About half of all identity theft is committed by close friends and relatives, who gain access to the personal records in your home, office, wallet or pocketbook. They not only steal bills and credit cards, and the identity that goes with it. That’s the shocking conclusion of a new survey of 4,000 consumers, about 500 of whom were identity theft victims, that was conducted by Javelin Research and the Better Business Bureau for Check-Free Services Corp., Visa USA, and Wells Fargo Bank, report Market-Watch and The Associated Press.
A serious threat to public safety and homeland security would be an unforeseen consequence of privacy legislation. The private industrial security sector provides a vital role in preventing identity theft for employment purposes, which has risen 104% in the last two years. People attempting to gain employment for illegal purposes including terrorist activities can be circumvented through the use of a social security number verifications and access to public records.
In addition the social security number has become ingrained in our society as the most reliable identifier for our citizens. It is an unfortunate situation but without the use essential information to locate and identify individuals with criminal intent the financial security of many businesses would be at risk. Again terrorists have used our own financial system against us. This idea that freedom equals anonymity is a misguided notion at best. Democracy is based on open government and public scrutiny of that government and its populace as well. Privacy laws only serve to worsen the issue of identity theft when they cripple those with a valid and vital reason to access certain data.
HR managers, recruiters, mangers and business owners should be concerned about these disturbing notions. While identity theft does cost the American economy 50 Billion dollars annually, the impact on businesses and the overall economy will be far worse if public records and personal identifiers are restricted by poorly crafted politicized legislation.
