IU professor discusses identity theft in new book

A person gets stopped for a minor traffic violation and upon examining records, the police officer on duty determines that the person is a wanted criminal, arrests him and sends him to jail. This seems logical, unless this person is not a criminal, but a victim of \nidentity theft. \nIdentity Theft is the topic of IU associate professor of informatics L. Jean Camp’s most recent book, “Economics of Identity Theft: Avoidance, Causes and \nPossible Cures.”\nThe criminal implications surrounding identity theft is worrisome, Camp said.\n“Criminals can use your identity, making it more than a financial problem,” she said. \nCamp said she was motivated to write this book after organizing an event that brought technologists, government and law enforcement officials together to see how each had a common concern for identity theft, but looked at \nit differently.\nThe book explores both the technological side of identity theft and the economical side. Camp describes how economic incentives should take much of the blame for identity theft. \nIndustries want to give quick credit, so they offer financial incentives and ask the consumer to provide the company with a social security number, Camp said. \nCamp’s colleague at the IU School of Informatics, professor Markus Jakobsson said he feels that many people are to blame for the problem of identity theft. \n“Some of this problem belongs to all of us; politicians, policy makers, software writers, they have serious work to do,” he said in an e-mail interview. “In the end, can we really blame the criminals for picking the low-hanging fruit? It is up to us to change things.”\nNearly 9.3 million Americans have been victims of some form of identity theft in the last year, according to a report by the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the understanding and prevention of identity theft. \nCamp explains in her book that the problem is not with a lack of technology, rather it is the inability of the consumer, businesses, banks and the government to work together. \nThis lack of coordination, Camp said, has gone as far as, in one circumstance, letting a convicted murderer escape because he assumed the identity of a fellow inmate, who was being let out on bail for \nauto theft.\nIdentity theft can be a serious problem for college students, according to Jay Foley, executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center.\n“Students have no established credit, making it easier for thieves to insert bogus information,” \nFoley said. \nFoley also explained that since social security numbers are assigned at birth and people can’t enter into contracts until they are 18 years old, that gives thieves 17 years to mess with a \nperson’s identity. \nCamp also warns students about the dangers of \nusing Facebook.\n“Be aware of who you give your identity information too,” she said. “Facebook is the public. This is not just a place where you hang out with friends.” \nSophomore informatics major Corey Godfrey agrees that students should be careful on the Internet.\n“I think that being ignorant about security on the Internet is just asking for someone to steal a part of your identity,” \nGodfrey said. \nDespite the difficulties in solving the problem, experts all seem to agree identity theft is a \nsevere issue. \n“The data mining opportunities for identity thieves are truly daunting,” Jakobsson said.