February 18, 2005
Identity Theft on Massive Scale
This was bound to happen at some point, Choicepoint has informed 145,000 consumers their identities may have been compromised. The personal data at risk includes names, social security numbers, addressess, and credit reports. Basically everything a thief needs to steal your identity and ring up huge debts under your name. The company already admits 750 cases of identity theft from this disaster, which is bound to go much higher.The irony is Choicepoint itself was mislead by stolen identities, which let the thieves pretend they were legitimate businesses searching the database. Even then, I'm not happy that any company with a clean record can have access to all our personal data. There needs to be boundaries and vicious retribution for companies like Choicepoint that have lax security over our most prized possession, our privacy.
ChoicePoint also said that law enforcement officials informed the company of 750 cases of identity theft tied directly to the incident. One California man has already pleaded no contest to felony charges related to the ChoicePoint attack, while federal and state law enforcement agencies continue to look for others involved in the operation.
