as a reason to refuse access to her own medical records to learn who had stolen her identity.54
A “typical” identity theft victim’s financial losses can run $36,000. And this doesn’t include what victims have to pay to creditors defrauded by impostors. It only includes legal expenses, lost wages, and lost time.
The damage to victims is compounded when bogus information is transferred between credit bureaus or other companies. Even if the original mistake is corrected, it can be difficult or impossible to persuade companies or law enforcement to remove the incorrect information or drop a criminal investigation.
Erroneous data can lead to decisions to deny a person the most basic privileges. Private data banks indexed by Social Security numbers track worker’s compensation claims or “problem” tenants. A “hit” based on an erroneous report can make it difficult or impossible to obtain employment or housing.
A recent trend in identify theft is for criminals to set up online data warehouses of stolen personal data for sale to prospective data thieves. For those with access to such warehouses, identity theft is as easy as “point and click.”55
One factor leading to the explosion in identity theft is the proliferation of information in the hands of banks, retailers, and private data warehouses. Computer hackers and fraudsters target the databases on which this data resides, often with devastating results. For instance, in 2007, retailer TJX, which owns T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s, revealed that data from 45.7 million credit and debit cards had been stolen in a computer security breach.56
An even larger data breach occurred in 2009. Heartland Payment Systems, one of the largest credit card payment processing companies in the United States, revealed that hackers had broken into its networks and stolen data on more than 130 million credit and debit cards. 57
Another identity theft scam tries to get you to launder money for criminals who steal your identity. Victims risk not only identity theft, but also criminal prosecution for wire fraud and money laundering. Scammers offer positions on online job sites such as “finance manager” or “accountant.” In most cases, the job involves wiring stolen money from one account to another. 58
Fortunately, it’s easy to protect yourself from most common means of identity theft. The most important measures include sending and receiving your mail in a locked mailbox and avoiding disclosure of your SSN. These simple steps go a long way toward protecting your privacy. Chapter 3 contains additional suggestions.
Your Car Is Spying on You
When you start your car, you might not think of the privacy implications. But many vehicles now contain global positioning system (GPS) technology that can pinpoint your location, wherever you travel.
GPS, originally conceived for the U.S. military, has evolved into a multi-billion-dollar industry. General Motors’ OnStar system is now installed in millions of vehicles. Police and government agencies can track any of these vehicles – and U.S. courts, with few exceptions,59 have generally ruled that investigators don’t need a warrant.60 Courts have also ruled that the FBI and other police agencies can even use these factory-installed tracking systems to eavesdrop on passengers.61 If your vehicle doesn’t have such a system installed, police in many states can hide one in it, without obtaining a warrant. Your location can then be tracked wherever you drive.62
Car rental companies use GPS devices to pinpoint a driver’s location and speed. The companies can set boundaries for their vehicles, so they know when cars are taken across state or provincial borders. The system can even deactivate a vehicle’s ignition if it’s been stolen, driven too fast, or operated in a location prohibited by the rental contract.
Another unusual use of GPS involves insurance companies who reward drivers that don’t use their cars often with lower rates. Naturally, the insurance companies want proof that the cars aren’t being driven. Rather than inspect the odometers, the high-tech solution is to track the car by GPS.63
GPS isn’t the only threat to privacy in your car. “Black box” surveillance systems have been installed in new automobiles manufactured in the United States since 1994. Among other information, the black box records a vehicle’s speed, acceleration, etc. in the same manner as the boxes placed in commercial airliners. In an accident, records retrieved from the box can determine if the vehicle was operated unsafely.64
Don’t forget automatic toll collection systems like E-Z Pass. Subscribers open prepaid accounts, and then receive special tags for their cars’ windshields. When a car with one of these tags cruises through a suitably equipped toll plaza, the toll is automatically debited. The E-Z Pass system transponders record the time and location each time a toll is collected. Police already use information recorded by E-Z Pass and similar systems in investigations. Increasingly, the records are also available in civil litigation.65
Technology companies have big plans for more comprehensive vehicle surveillance systems. Manufacturers of red light and speed camera systems have proposed integrating “national security” features into these devices. The new technology would maintain video records of passing motorists along with automatic identification of their license plate numbers. Once such systems are in widespread use, a police officer could simply type in your license plate number to reveal your vehicle’s location, 24 hours/day.
Similar technology already exists in the United Kingdom, where the national Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system tracks nearly 14 million vehicles daily through police cameras and closed circuit television systems. As you drive between major cities and (especially) into a major metropolitan area, your license plate is scanned and your identity matched against various U.K. databases. The system also photographs all passengers in the vehicles and stores the images for up to two years in a massive database.66
Government Invasions of Privacy and Wealth
Until the end of World War II, most personal information on Americans physically resided in their homes. Outside the home, the records maintained by banks, schools, insurance companies, etc. were in paper form and retrieved only to process a transaction or claim. In general, police could retrieve these records only if they could persuade a judge to issue a search warrant, based on probable cause, that the requested records provided evidence of a crime.
By the 1950s, as computers became an integral part of American society, entrepreneurs discovered a profitable business: compiling information on individual Americans in electronic form and making it available for a fee. Some of the first large-scale users of computer technology were credit bureaus. By contracting with financial institutions,department stores, local governments, etc., credit bureaus created vast libraries of information on individual Americans – information that had never before been conveniently accessible.
As technology progressed, governments began using computers to increase efficiency and productivity. It only seemed rational to place computers where they could be used to relieve clerks of dull, repetitive jobs. By the 1950s, officials at the IRS and Social Security Administration pointed to computerization of these agencies as models for other government agencies to follow. 67
These computer systems expanded to keep pace with the increasing obligations the government assumed. From a privacy standpoint, some of the most important new responsibilities were laws relating to financial surveillance. Beginning with the Bank Secrecy Act (1970),68 Congress passed an increasingly complex series of laws intended to fight crime and later, to prevent the “laundering” of money.
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