http://emergentchaos.com/archives/2006/06/the-persistence-of-ssns-and-the-persistence-of-thieves.html The Emergent Chaos Jazz Combo Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:02:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://emergentchaos.com/archives/2006/06/the-persistence-of-ssns-and-the-persistence-of-thieves.html/comment-page-1#comment-2244 Chris Walsh Fri, 02 Jun 2006 20:08:17 +0000 http://emergentchaos.com/?p=1751#comment-2244 Warning -- "top of my head" type remarks follow. :^) Fraud is already ubiquitous. Fraud-by-impersonation is just a late arrival at the party. Traditional, tried and true methods like fake invoices and self-help five-finger employee discounts affect every business that sells or buys anything, and the losses get baked into prices. As long as ID theft keeps a low profile in the aggregate, firms do not need to fix themselves, because they won't collapse. The problem with SSNs and the like is more that they can be used as part of a pernicious system of intelligence-gathering that can inflict vastly more damage (at least on those unlucky enough to have a suspicious glance cast their way). Warning — “top of my head” type remarks follow. :^)
Fraud is already ubiquitous. Fraud-by-impersonation is just a late arrival at the party. Traditional, tried and true methods like fake invoices and self-help five-finger employee discounts affect every business that sells or buys anything, and the losses get baked into prices.
As long as ID theft keeps a low profile in the aggregate, firms do not need to fix themselves, because they won’t collapse. The problem with SSNs and the like is more that they can be used as part of a pernicious system of intelligence-gathering that can inflict vastly more damage (at least on those unlucky enough to have a suspicious glance cast their way).

]]> http://emergentchaos.com/archives/2006/06/the-persistence-of-ssns-and-the-persistence-of-thieves.html/comment-page-1#comment-2243 Allan Friedman Fri, 02 Jun 2006 13:47:29 +0000 http://emergentchaos.com/?p=1751#comment-2243 There is always the hope, Adam, that some set of reforms will be introduced to minimize the fraud that can be perpetrated with an SSN + other data. On the other hand, a longer delay means that discerning ne'er-do-wells can gather data and run some numbers to select optimal victims. Still, I think there's a bigger question: what does fraud that hits the data files of 10% of all Americans look like? At what point do the firms, industries and institutions that are the popular channels for fraud either fix themselves or collapse? Does a world with ubiquitous fraud simply punish those who haven't adopted the latest soon-to-be subverted identity widget? There is always the hope, Adam, that some set of reforms will be introduced to minimize the fraud that can be perpetrated with an SSN + other data. On the other hand, a longer delay means that discerning ne’er-do-wells can gather data and run some numbers to select optimal victims.
Still, I think there’s a bigger question: what does fraud that hits the data files of 10% of all Americans look like? At what point do the firms, industries and institutions that are the popular channels for fraud either fix themselves or collapse? Does a world with ubiquitous fraud simply punish those who haven’t adopted the latest soon-to-be subverted identity widget?

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