Re: [privacy] More of the Truth: VA Data Theft Hit 80% Of ActiveMilitary

[Dave Dittrich <dittrich () u washington edu>]

I can't stand this.  I just saw a TV "news" report on this incident,
which quoted some silly ID theft prevention company (who is probably
drooling over the money they're going to make from this and other
incidents.)  Their top three recommendations:

        1. Buy a shredder
        2. Protect your children (who's IDs may be stolen)
        3. Watch your credit report.

So 1 and 2 have absolutely NOTHING to do with this incident, and
why should anyone (especially active duty military personnel)
HAVE to spend time watching their credit report to make sure
that whoever stole this data doesn't use it?

I can't wait for someone to come up with a "Support the Troops"
movement that results in pressuring Congress to change laws about
how hard it is for someone to prevent being a victim of ID theft
and to put the costs on those who lose our data.

Young, Keith wrote:
> > Ok, can you imagine being the poor shnook that stole this laptop 
> > thinking he could get $200 bucks for it in a pawnshop or elsewhere?
>
> I'd bet that the stolen laptop from his Aspen Hill home (in Montgomery
> County) was sold at one of our fine pawnshops long before this incident
> was in the news. Remember, there was a couple week lag between the theft
> and when this hit the papers...
>
> --Keith
>
> Keith Young, Security Official
> Department of Technology Services
> Montgomery County, Maryland
> phone - (240) 777-2955
> _______________________________________________
> privacy mailing list
> privacy () whitestar linuxbox org
> http://www.whitestar.linuxbox.org/mailman/listinfo/privacy


-- 
Dave Dittrich                          Information Assurance Researcher,
dittrich () u washington edu              The iSchool
http://staff.washington.edu/dittrich   University of Washington

PGP key      http://staff.washington.edu/dittrich/pgpkey.txt
Fingerprint  FE97 0C57 0843 F3EB 49A1  0CD0 8E0C D0BE C838 CCB5
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