Managing Information Technology

Chapter 15 • Social, Ethical, and Legal Issues 585

grounds that the cost of taking action exceeds the amount
that might be recovered from the thief, so taking action is
not economically justified for them. This raises very tough
ethical issues. These institutions are victims also. How much
cost should they be expected to bear in order to reduce the
potential harm to the person whose identity has been stolen?

Laws on Identity Theft

The Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of
1998 amended Title 18 of the United States Code Section
1028 to make it a federal crime when anyone “knowingly
transfers or uses, without lawful authority, a means of
identification of another person with the intent to commit,
or to aid or abet, any unlawful activity that constitutes a
violation of Federal law, or that constitutes a felony under
any applicable State or local law.”
Violations of the act are investigated by federal
investigative agencies such as the U.S. Secret Service, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the U.S. Postal
Inspection Service and prosecuted by the Department of
Justice. The act also requires the FTC to log and acknowl-
edge such complaints, provide victims with relevant infor-
mation, and refer their complaints to appropriate entities
(e.g., the major national consumer reporting agencies and
other law enforcement agencies).
The U.S. Fair Credit Reporting Act as amended sets
the rules for how credit bureaus maintain information and
what victims of identity theft must do to clear their credit
records. The act is a large, complex law, and it does not
adequately address the needs of identity theft victims. For
example, at a time when speed is very important to the
victim, the law allows 30 days for the credit bureaus to
make corrections, and the credit bureau is the judge of
whether any correction should be made. Always the bur-
den of proof is on the victim.
However, creditors victimized by identity theft have a
legitimate interest in making sure that the bad debts they

cover are truly identity theft rather than the doings of a dead-

beat who is swindling them, so it is not easy to write and

pass laws that protect the creditors and also provide ade-

quate relief for identity theft victims. Nevertheless, it is clear

that the law on identity theft is inadequate, and enforcement

of the law is poor but improving.

Intellectual Property Rights

There are a number of definitions of intellectual

property,but we will use the following:

Intellectual property is any product of the

human mind, such as an idea, an invention, a

literary creation, a work of art, a business

method, an industrial process, a chemical for-

mula, a computer program, or a presentation.

Intellectual property is quite different from physical

property. If one sells or gives away something physical,

you no longer have it, but an idea can be shared without

losing it. With the invention of the printing press, the wide-

spread sharing of intellectual property became feasible,

and succeeding waves of technological development have

made sharing easier. With digital representation increas-

ingly becoming the norm, sharing intellectual property has

become easy, rapid, and inexpensive.

What property can be owned differs from one society

to another. For example, in a communist society individu-

als cannot own land and the means of production. Many

Native Americans had no concept of land ownership. And

in many societies today private ownership of intellectual

property is uncommon. Even in the United States you can-

not own an idea, but only the particular expression of that

idea, and others can take that idea and use it in other ways.

Most Western societies have long recognized that

intellectual property is so valuable to society that its

PREVENTING IDENTITY THEFT

There are a number of precautions one should take to reduce the danger of identity theft:

• Protect your social security number (or other key identifying numbers). Do not reveal it to anyone unless you
  know that it is necessary and will be used legitimately. Do not carry your social security card or your social secu-
  rity number in your wallet.


• Protect your credit cards. Carry as few cards as possible in your wallet. Keep them in sight when you use them in
  restaurants to make sure that they are not copied.


• Protect your computer by using a firewall and installing antivirus and antispyware software.


• Do not throw bills, credit card offers, and so on into the trash. Shred them instead.


• Check your credit card bills and bank statements carefully to detect any unauthorized activity.


• Check your credit reports frequently, at least once a year