Recently one of my friends found that his identity was stolen The thief got store credit cards on his name, and bought goods worth about $10,000. And today I read this:
The California-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights said for $26 each it was able to purchase the Social Security numbers and home addresses for Tenet, Ashcroft and other top Bush administration officials, including Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser.
Update: CalPundit writes on the new Financial Privacy Bill, which LA Times calls "the nation's most far-reaching financial privacy legislation".
It's only a small step, but at least it's a step in the right direction. You see, it's not the unending collection of personal information that's really the main threat to privacy in the United States, it's the ability to amalgamate it all in one place and sell it to the highest bidder that's the real danger. This bill puts a few roadblocks in place to keep that from happening.
Now how about a bill, that will send anyone caught spamming into Afghanistan ?
[Source CNN]