"On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog" is a quote taken from The New Yorker, back in 1993. The cartoon was created by a cartoonist named Peter Steiner, which proved to be very successful, earning him over $50, 000. In 1993 identity was a largely publicized problem, growing in the virtual world. Their were horror stories about internet stalkers and online perverts, but no one seemed to care about stealing someone's identity.
TRUE STORY: I had two friends in high school, which I don't associate with them anymore, who were charged with
identity theft, robbery,
illegal purchase and distribution of drugs, and under the influence. While they attended Syracuse University they hacked into a few online banking accounts and store a few thousand dollars (
I don't know to the exact dollar, but I know it was enough to buy a car.) My one friends (
Which I am going to leave anonymous) woke up the sometime later after with a nine millimeter pointed at his face! My other friend awoke to a shotgun pointed at his chest! I remember hearing one of them barfed because it was so intense. The Secret Service broke into their homes and placed them both under arrest. Now the money trail was hard to follow, but during the interrogation and later drug test, the Secret Service found the money was used for the purchase and distribution of drugs. During the trial they were threaten with 50 years in the state prison is found guilty and tried without a lawyer. I heard recently they did not go to jail, but went on probation and have frequent drug tests. They were both kicked out of Syracuse University, I believe one goes to the local community college, but now they have a serious criminal record for the rest of their lives.
With the everlasting growing popularity of the Internet people are contributing more and more information about themselves, without them knowing. Even if someone were to make a simple blog post about a particular topic they are revealing their thoughts and perceptions to the world--this is a minor case of revealing one's identity. In other scenarios, some websites like
match.com, eharmony, facebook, and
myspace all have requirements you have to meet before starting a page. They don't stress on addresses or income levels, however...they are still avaliable for someone to fill in. Websites are adding more and more slots to fill information in even if it seems unnecessary. Another annoyance of online identity is when you visit a past website, advertisements and web-banners will follow you around to different web pages. It's a little nerve racking having a company follow you around.
Identity on the Internet plays a unique role in the virtual world. It's almost like a big pool game of "Marco-Polo." When you go looking for someone you are virtually blind. You swim around splishin' and splashin' trying to find your friends. In order to find them you have to follow the information they give you to identify who's who and who's where. In some cases "calling fish outta water," you may know the majority of people in the pool. It's when a stranger decides to jump in your pool for a quick dip, were things start becoming complicated. Now, this persons been swimming for years and loves messing with people and their "Marco-polo" games. So they start shouting "polo" and you follow. You keep following this person around trying to find out who they are, but they keep swimming underneath you, just out of your reach. Every moment this person is in the pool, with you, they learn more about your moves and tactics. Eventually the person will know how to avoid you and convince all your friends to leave the pool, leaving you behind. The person has just run away with all you information.
The little analogy (Above) may seem humors to some, however, identity theft is a real serious matter. The Federal Trade Commission stated that their are 27.3 million cases of identity theft in the last five years and about half have been recorded from last year. The United States government has spent over $52.6 billion dollars, just from last year to prevent this serious matter (
forbes.com). This information was documented in April of 2005. In more recent news, on October 1st, 2008 President Bush signed into law a bill making it easier for prosecutors to go after "cyber-criminal", while ensuring that identity theft victims are compensated for their time and trouble when convicted identity thieves are forced to cough up ill-gotten gains.
The Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act of 2008 has been approved by the senate and the house and is now an enforced act, hopefully easing the identity theft problem. The new law allows federal courts to prosecute when the "cyber-criminal" and the victim live in the same state. Under current law, federal courts only have jurisdiction if the thief uses interstate communication to access the victim's computer. In addition, the law also expands the definition of cyber-extortion. (Washington Post)
When I read through the Judith S. Donath article, "Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community," I thought the use of
online signatures was a good idea to help prevent identity theft. If someone is given an enscripted code to follow and sign off on important documents, I believe it would be easy to track down criminals. "They can be used to anchor the virtual person to the real world person." (Donath) Instead of using a specific code on the computer I think the use of barcodes might aid more to the user either that or some sort of scan system, were you can scan your finger, to sign off on.
It's scary to think that people have access to all sorts of information and play pretend online just to make a few bucks. In my personal opinion, I believe anyone with a bank account and a computer can steal someone's identity, if they really put some thought into it. I mean these identity thefts are white collar crimes and don't require a college degree or certification to know how the process works. On the other hand, it's comforting to know that new laws are enforcing the public's right to their own identity, even in cyberspace and criminals are being punished for wrongdoing. Still the Internet is not a safe place to wonder about dropping off information about yourself. To prevent situations like this I keep a paper trail of my banking information and use different names on different web pages, excluding myspace and facebook (
However they are set to private and friends only). People have installed security systems in homes and buy dogs to keep criminals out of their homes. Now it looks like programs are going to have to design a more suitable "watch dog" system.
References and Cited information:> "New Federal Law Targets ID Theft, Cybercrime," Washington Post (Cited October 2nd, 2008)
>Analytica, Oxford, 2006, "Hooked on Phising" http://www.forbes.com/business/2005/04/29/cz_0429oxan_identitytheft.html (Cited October 2nd, 2008)
>Donath, Judith S., November 12, 2006, "Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community," http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html (Cited October 2nd, 2008)
> Wikipedia, 2008 "Identity Theft" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_theft (Cited October 2nd, 2008)
> "Text of H.R. 5938: Former Vice President Protection Act of 2008" http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-5938 (Cited October 3rd, 2008)
