ID Thief Gets 14 Years In Prison

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=57700753#_

 

We hear about the huge sting operations like this one, but what about things where our identity is simply "borrowed" for motives other than money? I think of Mike Swickey and what he went through a year or two back. Swickey is a privacy consultant out of Oklahoma City (I think it was Oklahoma) and was a victim himself. The story, as I remember it, was that the guy didn't know for several months that someone was running a website for Dennis Kucinich for President and using Swickey's name. The irony is that Swickey was anything BUT a Kucinich type. He is a conservative and far from the fringe thinking of the left-leaning Kucinich. It didn't keep someone from using his name and campaigning on Kucinich's behalf!! All behind the anonymity of a keyboard on the internet! Even a guy who works with privacy for a living can't do anything about that kind of "borrowing" of identity. I've heard him tell his story a couple of times and it makes me realize - it's not always about money. Anyone can "steal" or "borrow" your identitiy for any purpose. It's all pretty scary when you think about it.
Gerard