IDENTITY THEFT

Identity theft - when a criminal knowingly uses identifying information about you to commit, aid, or abet any action that is already illegal - seems to be on everyone's mind nowadays. Simply put you cannot read a newsaper or watch broadcast TV news without hearing about it. The chances of you having your personal identity stolen are about the same as having an item of personal property stolen - pretty impressive for a crime that was virtually nonexistent just twenty - five years ago.

You take precautions to protect your personal property from being stolen without even thinking about it. Today you must alsotake steps to protect your identity. But while it's easy to understand what it means to have a car radio or a wallet stolen, it's not so clear to many of us just exactly what identity theft is. What actually is it that gets taken?

When you stop to define it, your identity is a bit bigger than news reports might suggest. It's not just your credit card number. It's more than soul- driver's license, or your Social Security number, or your computer passwords.

Think of everything that makes you who you are the things that make you unique. The facts that you like the color blue or you read the Sunday Times and watch CNN. Maybe you graduated High School with a B average and that you like brussel sprouts. That's your identity.

Your identity is the sum of every bit of information about you that there is. It 's every action that you've ever taken, every preference you're ever expressed. It`s everything that`s ever happened to you, everything you've ever written down, and everything other people have written about you.

Something you should quickly discover is that when it comes to keeping your identity safe, there is more to worry about than you might think.

IDENTITY DAMAGE

Now ask yourself what is worse: having your car stolen or having it totaled in an accident? Not much difference really, is there?

While identity theft has grabbed all the headlines, there is considerably less focus placed on identity damage even though it's a potentially bigger problem. Ten million Americans are victims of identity theft each year, but many more of us are the victims of identity damage. In fact, it's likely that we're all victims to some degree or other--every single one of us.

Identity damage occurs when a piece of information about you is mischaracterized, misinterpreted, or just plain wrong. These mistakes might be inconsequential, but they can also be costly. An incorrect entry in your credit report, for example, could mean you pay a higher mortgage rate than you should. An error in a medical record could deny you insurance coverage or cost you a job.

Identity damage also occurs when a piece of information about you that is absolutely true negatively affects your life or your ability to get something you want. it's possible that you're even doing this kind of damage to yourself without realizing it. Filing too many insurance claims, sending a personal a-mail from work even being unfriendly to your neighbors can all cause identity damage if you're not careful. Identity theft, you see, is just the tip of the iceberg.

WHAT HAPPENED TO PRIVACY?

But if these problems are so big, why are we just hearing about them now? Why didn't identity theft and identity damage pose much risk twenty-five years ago? Because back then, we had a pretty effective antidote for identity dangers: privacy. The technology to keep a watchful eye on all your actions just didn't exist. It was impractical to store much information about you, to collate it, and to I share it with others. Practically speaking, even the things you did in public were really pretty private.

So, while your local grocer knew of your fondness for baskets sprouts (and who knows, may have even kept a card in a file cabinet that said so), it was doubtful that your banker or the grocer across town or even the brussels sprouts distributor knew anything about it. But now they do.

Technology has put an end to privacy. Computers allow a lot more information to be organized and stored. These days, information that could fill football stadiums with filing cabinets can be stored on computer disks that cost under one hundred dollars and fit in the palm of your hand. The Internet has connected every one of these computers-as well as every cash register, gas pump, and ATM-to form one big readily-accessible pool of data. Miniature devices like cameras or sensors have extended what information about us can be collected. Software can sift through this vast information in the blink of an eye, analyzing, sorting, and detecting patterns. The result: your life is an open book to just about anyone who wants to read it.

Six hundred insurance companies in the United States can access your medical history from a central database. Two thirds of large companies perform background checks on job candidates. Direct marketers determine that four-and-a-half-million tons of junk mail should be delivered to you and your neighbors each year.

Did you know that computers in your car monitor if you're speeding? That software predicts if you're likely to commit a crime? That doctors, banks, hotels, casinos, and apartment owners maintain blacklists? That invisible surveillance cameras photograph you more than seventy-five times each day-sometimes for security and sometimes to catch you in an embarrassing situation for broadcast on Internet Web sites?

Did you know that thirty-live federal agencies have bought information collected on you by large prowling companies to gauge if you're likely to be a terrorist or drug smuggler? And the only way that you're not profiled is if you've never bought anything with credit, don't have a driver's license or a checking account or any kind of insurance, and have never held a job or even filed a change of address with the post once.

Some would have you believe that the key to reducing identity theft and damage is to fight for more privacy, hoping to stem the tide of all this technology. But although most of us value privacy as a concept, when push comes to shove we rarely care about what people know about us. Until a line is crossed-and for most people that line is at the doorway to the bedroom-we're quite happy living in a world where Big Brother is a television show and not an Orwellian nightmare.

The key is to forget about trying to keep your identity private. It's a bit like worrying about showing your epidermis. You need to worry about what really matters.