Good Identity Theft Angel
Tell your friends and family - If you get an email from Identity Angel, DO NOT DELETE IT! It's a GOOD THING!
Here at IdentityTheftSecrets, it's my job to rat on, and root out scammers, thieves, and crooks. Many of them are very intelligent, and they use their intelligence to destroy other people's lives through the awful crime of Identity Theft.
So, it's a refreshing change when I get to talk about someone who is making a difference, and is using their powers for good.
Meet Dr. Latanya Sweeney, Ph.D. This brilliant woman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, has invented something called Identity Angel. This benevolent program will search through documents on the internet (I assume including PDF's, Word Docs, and other harder to reach file types), to find your information.
If it finds your information, it attempts to email you to let you know.
What's the advantage of this, you say?
I know none of the SuperSleuths would do this, but let's say that you, or someone you know, is going to apply for a job, and unthinkingly posts a name, address, AND social security number on a resume'. If these three pieces of information all exist in one place, then the Identity Angel will attempt to send an email to let you know that posting this information opens you up to Identity theft. (At the very least, you should remove your Social Security number from this document, because with these pieces of information, an Identity Thief can assume the role of YOU, for whatever type(s) of Identity Theft and crimes they would like to commit on behalf of you - meaning, AS YOU.)
I don't know what servers are being used to power this technology, but IdentityTheftSecrets would love to see Google or another company with large server capability take on this philanthropic and empowering software, and put it to work in a large scale environment.
Testifying before the Department of Homeland Security's Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee in June 2005, Sweeney advocated the belief that tools like Identity Angel would enable people to secure their identities while not sacrificing their privacy rights. "Following the events of September 11, there is a common false belief that in order for America to be safe, the public must give up its privacy. This is not necessary, "Sweeney said.
Dr. Latanya Sweeney, Ph.D., a patriot and brilliant philanthropist, is a powerful person because she's using technology and her mindpower to further the development and protection of humankind. (What do you want to bet she doesn't spend a lot of time watching television?)
Tell your friends and family: If you get an email from Identity Angel, DON'T DELETE it! It's a GOOD THING!
Click here to listen to the interview on NPR
