While we write blogs and update our site with useful tools and information to protect your Internet privacy, 84 million people a year fall victim to identity theft. With fraud totals reaching $49.3 billion in 2007, it is very important to take the first step and proactively find ways to keep your information private. We provide blogs, articles, and products that protect you, but the 84 million people a year who have fallen victim to identity theft have little help or support.

Many victims find out within three months of the theft…that means the person who stole the identity has had a three month head start on spending your money and opening up false accounts. This fact, along with the fact that the average identity theft victim can spend 330 hours repairing their credit, shows that ID theft is a dangerous crime. 330 hours = roughly 13 full days. That means a person can spend 13 24-hour days (or 41 8-hour work days) trying to fix the damage from ID theft. The FTC has created a section of their website that contains tools and information for the victims of identity theft so they can begin the rebuilding process as quickly as possible.

If you are the victim of identity theft you should do these four steps immediately:

1. Review your credit reports and place a fraud alert (or extended fraud alert) with the credit bureaus.
2. Close the accounts that have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.
3. File a complaint with the FTC.
4. File a police report.

This is the shortened version of the list, but these are the steps you should follow to ensure the situation is dealt with asap. The following tools for victims of identity theft will be useful in conjunction with the four steps:

• You must always keep a log of your actions and findings when gathering information from an identity theft. The FTC has provided a “course of action chart” to help you keep detailed information for your reference.
• FTC ID Theft Complaint form. This form found on the FTC’s Consumer Protection page can be combined with the police report to create an Identity Theft Report, helping victims get the ball rolling sooner and recover quicker. The report is used to block fraudulent information from appearing on your credit report, and prevent companies from collecting debts due to an identity theft.
• ID Theft Affidavit (pdf). This form is less detailed and does not offer as much protection as the Identity Theft Report, but is still a very useful tool to have. The eight page document must be filled out in order to absolve you of any debt incurred due to identity theft, or to gain access to the information a company has on the identity thief they dealt with.
• Victim’s Statement of Rights. This statement details your rights under federal law (and also has a link to state resources).
• You will have to write many letters to credit card companies, banks, and other companies that have been used during your identity theft. The FTC provides a list of sample letters for various purposes that are useful and time saving tools (note: Word documents):
• Requesting fraudulent transactions or account information
• Requesting credit bureaus to block fraudulent information from appearing on your credit report
• Disputing charges on an existing account that has been tampered with
• Disputing charges on an account opened by the identity thief
• Law Enforcement(pdf) cover letter that should be attached with your FTC Identity Theft Complaint

These tools will help the identity theft victim reduce the number of hours and the amount of effort needed to resolve an identity theft. Of course always remember the best offense against an identity theft is a great defense!

And today brings a close to Privacy Lost with the fifth segment, “For celebs, price of fame is rising.”

This article sheds some light on exactly how high tensions are between celebrities and paparazzi. The same methods used by government agencies to monitor citizens are basically the same used to stalk celebrities. Long-lens cameras and listening devices top the list of preferred methods to invade privacy. Being a high profile name means a celebrity is vulnerable to identity theft since so much information can be found about them. While identity theft is a major concern to anyone, celebrities find that their biggest privacy risk comes in the form of high-tech, highly aggressive media. Celebrities can’t even be safe in their own homes anymore.

Although, as the article mentions, some celebrities cry wolf and say they have no privacy while airing their dirty laundry on realty TV shows and websites. It ultimately brings us back to the main point of Privacy Lost, talk and actions are miles apart when discussing privacy. We all say that we want more privacy and that we will take the steps to make it happen, but when push comes to shove….nothing.

While the article focuses on issues from 2006, everything presented throughout the five parts has lost no relevance. As time progresses so does technology and the way people use it. Privacy is something is taken for granted. We don’t notice when privacy is there. It is just assumed, until someone threatens to take our privacy away.

With today’s continuation of MSNBC’s Privacy Lost, the focus is on the vast difference in privacy rights and laws between the United States and the European Union.

A few examples of the difference in European privacy laws vs U.S. privacy laws include:

• Personal information can’t be collected without permission, and the person has a chance to review their information to make sure it is accurate and up to date
• Companies that process data must be registered with the government
• Employee e-mails cannot be read by employers
• Personal information cannot be shared across borders or companies without permission
• Salespeople at stores can’t ask for a shopper’s phone number

Europeans tend to trust their government more, even though many of these limitations do not apply to them. According to the article, the Netherlands is 130 times more likely to use wiretapping than the U.S. The major different is that the E.U. places many privacy restrictions on the “evil” corporations, while the U.S. lacks trust in their government.

The article continues to point out the significance that privacy laws (well actually the lack of privacy laws in this case) played during the Holocaust when church records were used to persecute Jews. Some theories exist that date the privacy issues back even further in history. The article then continues to point out some recent examples of how the differences in privacy laws became major issues. Europeans choose to use the government, which is there to protect them, when wrongdoings occur…Americans, on the other hand, use the private sector to resolve issues.

The article displays a very useful chart to show the differences between the U.S. and E.U. in various issues including: right to privacy, government snooping, and consumer data collection. From what I see, Americans tend to view privacy as a personal matter that they have a right to defend on their own terms. In contrast, Europeans seem to see privacy as a matter of government and will use that avenue as opposed to actively pursuing ways to protect their privacy. Americans make privacy happen, while Europeans expect it to be there.

While I won’t say that one trumps the other, both the U.S. and the E.U. make valid points to their cause. My reoccuring thought while reading this article was how do two vastly different systems work so well, respectively? Speaking from a U.S. point of view, while many privacy issues exist, I know I can still be protected. It is a difficult subject to approach. Ultimately, both systems are working in their respective ways.