James moved apartments and put in his change-of-address card with the U.S. Post Office. Unfortunately, they didn't forward his mail to his new apartment. When his mail was dropped at the previous apartment, the new tenants left it out in a common area. As a result, someone took the credit card applications sent to him, filled them out and returned them in his name—making James a victim of identity theft.
James’s name has been changed to protect his privacy.
- Are you fed up with receiving pre-recorded telemarketing calls?
- Do you live in Southern California?
- Help us gather evidence for possible legal and legislative action.
Here are typical scenarios.
Submitted to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, October 2002
Testimony of Edmund Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG)
Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
United States Senate
The Honorable Paul Sarbanes, Chairman
September 19, 2002
Today, the Financial Services Privacy Coalition published a full-page ad in major California newspapers. The attention-grabbing headline screamed, "SB 773: A Special Interest Experiment California Can't Afford." The ad urges readers to contact their state legislators and tell them to vote against Senator Jackie Speier's SB 773, which will be heard on the Assembly floor this week in its final push to the Governor's office.
Robert Gellman
Privacy and Information Policy Consultant
Washington, DC
© Robert Gellman 2002
Version 1.1
A colleague called last week to discuss medical privacy. It was a personal matter. He recently had a medical procedure that he did not describe. He doesn't want me or anyone to know anything about his diagnosis or treatment. I didn't ask for details. For purpose of this article, I will identify my friend as Fred (not his real name).
A shorter version of this paper was presented at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy 2002 Conference: Plenary Session #9: "How Public Is too Public? Public Records and Personal Privacy"
San Francisco, CA
INTRODUCTION
We do not give permission to the county of Grand Forks, to the state of North Dakota, to any government entity, or official, to take a picture of our home and place it on the internet.
Rex retired from the Army in 1999. In July of last year, someone was able to get a military ID from Fort Bragg with his name and Social Security number. Using that ID and Rex's good credit history, that person was able to buy cars, motorcycles and open credit card and checking accounts. Rex never came in contact with this person, lost a credit card or was careless with his Social Security number.
Tena Friery, Research Director
On June 11, 2002, voters in North Dakota spoke overwhelmingly in favor of financial privacy. A referendum which would prohibit banks from sharing, selling or otherwise disclosing personal financial information succeeded by a majority of three to one. This confirms what polls have been telling us for years. Consumers feel strongly about privacy, particularly when it comes to the sensitive information in bank records.