Breaking Identity Theft News: Good for Us, Bad for Uncle Sam
Looks Like Someone is Holding Government Accountable for Identity Theft
Think the government would never put you at risk of identity theft? At least not knowingly right? Think again. More and more local governments are putting personal information online as part of an initiative to make public records more easily available. In one case in recent news, this resulted in a woman's identity being stolen. Looks like Uncle Sam is finally being held accountable.
What Happened
It appears that a clerk of courts in Hamilton County in Ohio was sued for violating a law regarding privacy. A Ms. Cynthia Lambert had her identity stolen after the clerk of the court posted her speeding ticket in their online public records database, a ticket that included her personal information including her social security number, drivers license number and other identifying information.
Initially, when Cynthia filed suit a judge dismissed the case. Now, thanks to an appeals court, that decision has been reversed. She will be moving forward with her suit, and hopefully she'll win. Then maybe the government will be held accountable for their actions, when so many of us have been asking them to limit the information made publicly available online.
The Future
So what does this mean for the future of identity theft? It's by no means a fix all. It's just another step towards making us a little bit safer in a world where identity theft is becoming an increasingly-common crime.