wildercb/PrivacyTextBooks1.2 · Datasets at Hugging Face

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liability. Judges can contribute by being more willing to acknowledge when
these entities act unreasonably. Lawmakers can require all the actors to be
more transparent about their operations and how they contribute to data
breaches.69 By focusing mainly on breached organizations, the law misses
how many other actors are creating big security risks.
6
Reducing Harm from Data Breaches
In 2002, an identity thief began using David Lazarus’s Social Security
Number to open nine different credit card accounts. The thief used the cards
to rack up debts at casinos.1
David reached out to the police for help, but they wouldn’t help him.
Fortunately, David was a journalist and had the skills to track down the
thief and gather evidence. The thief was arrested and convicted in 2003 and
was eventually deported. David thought he had won.
He was wrong. The tainted data that the thief had generated began to
take on a life of its own. David tried to buy a house, but he had trouble
obtaining a loan because of the debts that the thief had racked up. He was
told that to clear up his record, he would have to pay $4,000 of the thief’s
casino debts.
After a long time fighting, many phone calls, and much stress, David
was finally able to get his loan approved. The nightmare was finally over. In
2007, David wrote an article about how he survived this ordeal.2
Years passed. A decade later, David received a phone call from a debt
collector for a hospital bill in Connecticut. He had never been to a hospital
in Connecticut.3 This error wasn’t an innocent mistake. Nor was it a
different identity thief—it was the same thief who was at it again. “And just
like that, the nightmare starts again,” David wrote in a follow-up article 10
years after his first article. He lamented “the near-impossibility of fully
correcting erroneous online information—which I spent many hours trying
to do the last time I dealt with this problem.”4
David’s case is not unusual. Identity theft is so prevalent because the law
makes it so easy to perpetrate. Identity thieves can get away with fraud
because companies are often not careful enough about authenticating
people’s identity. The thieves are hard to track down. Smart identity thieves
know that identity theft is a great boondoggle, much better than bank
robbery. Bank robbers get caught; identity thieves don’t.
To make matters worse, identity theft is incredibly simple to do. Our
data ecosystem makes it easy. To conduct an identity theft, a thief just needs
a few pieces of personal data. The identity thief can then go on a massive
spree of fraud. With how readily systems can be breached and with all the
data already leaked from previous breaches, identity thieves live in a world
abundant in riches. The Internet offers up a copious bazaar of personal data
—some for sale and some for free. The thieves can readily obtain it and
start using it.
The law does little to help. Laws aimed at combating identity theft are
mostly ineffective. Several laws actually make the problem worse by
ratcheting up the pain and suffering for identity theft victims as well as the
overall harm and cost of data breaches.
THE IDENTITY THEFT EPIDEMIC
In the United States, more than 16 million people are victimized by identity
theft in a single year.5 Identity theft is a Kafkaesque nightmare, plunging
victims into a bureaucratic maze that can take forever to escape from. In the
early 2000s, grave concerns were raised about the burgeoning scourge of
identity theft.6 According to the FBI, in 2001 identity theft was the fastest
growing form of white collar crime.7 The problem quickly became an
epidemic. Today, hardly anything has improved.
Types of Identity Theft
Identity theft is the among the most tangible and legally recognized harms
resulting from a compromise in the confidentiality, integrity, or availability
of personal data. To understand the full impact that data breaches have on
people, it helps to have a sense of the many different kinds of identity theft.
FINANCIAL IDENTITY THEFT
Financial identity theft is the most prevalent form of identity theft. Thieves
obtain credit cards or loans in the victim’s name, racking up big debts.
When unsuspecting victims try to obtain a loan, a job, a license, or anything
requiring a credit check, the victims discover that their credit is trashed and
that they owe a massive amount of debt. People can also discover that they
have been victimized when they start receiving a barrage of phone calls
from debt collectors.
CRIMINAL IDENTITY THEFT
In criminal identity theft, identity thieves provide the victim’s information
when they are arrested. Some identity thieves dupe the police with fake
driver’s licenses in their victim’s name.8 After their arrest, the thieves post
bail and disappear. Later, victims discover that they are wanted for
committing a crime. In some cases, the thief has amassed a long rap sheet
of crimes in the victim’s name.
One victim was repeatedly fired from jobs and had great difficulties
getting hired because his criminal records were riddled with felonies,
including sex crimes involving children.9 In another case, a woman in the
Air Force returned home from an overseas deployment to discover that she
was wanted for injury to a child, assault, and other crimes.10 In one
instance, an identity theft victim was arrested and held in prison for more
than two weeks until the police discovered that the fingerprints on the
victim’s records didn’t match. Even then, the nightmare didn’t end; it
became even more horrific when the victim was arrested again based on
more tainted data from the identity thief.11
MEDICAL IDENTITY THEFT
Another pernicious strain of identity theft is medical identity theft.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS):
“Medical identity theft occurs when someone steals your personal
information (like your name, Social Security Number, or Medicare number)
to obtain medical care, buy drugs, or submit fake billings to Medicare in
your name.”12
In one case, a person went to donate blood but was denied. A fraudster
had used her Social Security Number to get treatment at an AIDS clinic.13
In another case, a victim was billed $44,000 for surgery that he hadn’t
received. One incident involved a woman who was falsely listed on the
birth certificate of an identity thief’s baby. The baby was born addicted to
meth, and the identity theft victim was wrongly pursued by child-protective
services for the identity thief’s baby.14 In many cases, identity thieves use a

liability. Judges can contribute by being more willing to acknowledge when

these entities act unreasonably. Lawmakers can require all the actors to be

more transparent about their operations and how they contribute to data

breaches.69 By focusing mainly on breached organizations, the law misses

how many other actors are creating big security risks.

6

Reducing Harm from Data Breaches

In 2002, an identity thief began using David Lazarus’s Social Security

Number to open nine different credit card accounts. The thief used the cards

to rack up debts at casinos.1

David reached out to the police for help, but they wouldn’t help him.

Fortunately, David was a journalist and had the skills to track down the

thief and gather evidence. The thief was arrested and convicted in 2003 and

was eventually deported. David thought he had won.

He was wrong. The tainted data that the thief had generated began to

take on a life of its own. David tried to buy a house, but he had trouble

obtaining a loan because of the debts that the thief had racked up. He was

told that to clear up his record, he would have to pay $4,000 of the thief’s

casino debts.

After a long time fighting, many phone calls, and much stress, David

was finally able to get his loan approved. The nightmare was finally over. In

2007, David wrote an article about how he survived this ordeal.2

Years passed. A decade later, David received a phone call from a debt

collector for a hospital bill in Connecticut. He had never been to a hospital

in Connecticut.3 This error wasn’t an innocent mistake. Nor was it a

different identity thief—it was the same thief who was at it again. “And just

like that, the nightmare starts again,” David wrote in a follow-up article 10

years after his first article. He lamented “the near-impossibility of fully

correcting erroneous online information—which I spent many hours trying

to do the last time I dealt with this problem.”4

David’s case is not unusual. Identity theft is so prevalent because the law

makes it so easy to perpetrate. Identity thieves can get away with fraud

because companies are often not careful enough about authenticating

people’s identity. The thieves are hard to track down. Smart identity thieves

know that identity theft is a great boondoggle, much better than bank

robbery. Bank robbers get caught; identity thieves don’t.

To make matters worse, identity theft is incredibly simple to do. Our

data ecosystem makes it easy. To conduct an identity theft, a thief just needs

a few pieces of personal data. The identity thief can then go on a massive

spree of fraud. With how readily systems can be breached and with all the

data already leaked from previous breaches, identity thieves live in a world

abundant in riches. The Internet offers up a copious bazaar of personal data

—some for sale and some for free. The thieves can readily obtain it and

start using it.

The law does little to help. Laws aimed at combating identity theft are

mostly ineffective. Several laws actually make the problem worse by

ratcheting up the pain and suffering for identity theft victims as well as the

overall harm and cost of data breaches.

THE IDENTITY THEFT EPIDEMIC

In the United States, more than 16 million people are victimized by identity

theft in a single year.5 Identity theft is a Kafkaesque nightmare, plunging

victims into a bureaucratic maze that can take forever to escape from. In the

early 2000s, grave concerns were raised about the burgeoning scourge of

identity theft.6 According to the FBI, in 2001 identity theft was the fastest

growing form of white collar crime.7 The problem quickly became an

epidemic. Today, hardly anything has improved.

Types of Identity Theft

Identity theft is the among the most tangible and legally recognized harms

resulting from a compromise in the confidentiality, integrity, or availability

of personal data. To understand the full impact that data breaches have on

people, it helps to have a sense of the many different kinds of identity theft.

FINANCIAL IDENTITY THEFT

Financial identity theft is the most prevalent form of identity theft. Thieves

obtain credit cards or loans in the victim’s name, racking up big debts.

When unsuspecting victims try to obtain a loan, a job, a license, or anything

requiring a credit check, the victims discover that their credit is trashed and

that they owe a massive amount of debt. People can also discover that they

have been victimized when they start receiving a barrage of phone calls

from debt collectors.

CRIMINAL IDENTITY THEFT

In criminal identity theft, identity thieves provide the victim’s information

when they are arrested. Some identity thieves dupe the police with fake

driver’s licenses in their victim’s name.8 After their arrest, the thieves post

bail and disappear. Later, victims discover that they are wanted for

committing a crime. In some cases, the thief has amassed a long rap sheet

of crimes in the victim’s name.

One victim was repeatedly fired from jobs and had great difficulties

getting hired because his criminal records were riddled with felonies,

including sex crimes involving children.9 In another case, a woman in the

Air Force returned home from an overseas deployment to discover that she

was wanted for injury to a child, assault, and other crimes.10 In one

instance, an identity theft victim was arrested and held in prison for more

than two weeks until the police discovered that the fingerprints on the

victim’s records didn’t match. Even then, the nightmare didn’t end; it

became even more horrific when the victim was arrested again based on

more tainted data from the identity thief.11

MEDICAL IDENTITY THEFT

Another pernicious strain of identity theft is medical identity theft.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS):

“Medical identity theft occurs when someone steals your personal

information (like your name, Social Security Number, or Medicare number)

to obtain medical care, buy drugs, or submit fake billings to Medicare in

your name.”12

In one case, a person went to donate blood but was denied. A fraudster

had used her Social Security Number to get treatment at an AIDS clinic.13

In another case, a victim was billed $44,000 for surgery that he hadn’t

received. One incident involved a woman who was falsely listed on the

birth certificate of an identity thief’s baby. The baby was born addicted to

meth, and the identity theft victim was wrongly pursued by child-protective

services for the identity thief’s baby.14 In many cases, identity thieves use a