Fergie's Tech Blog

Vermont State Web Site a Road Map for ID Thieves

An AP newswire article by David Gram, via The Boston Globe, reports that:

A prominent state legislator was not happy Friday when someone called him, told him his Social Security number was on a Web site maintained by the secretary of state's office and then read it to him.

"That's a little disturbing, I guess," said the lawmaker, whose name was withheld from this story to protect him from identity theft.

A Vermont law took effect last July 1 directing state and local government agencies to redact Social Security numbers from public records. The numbers are considered gold for identity thieves, who can use them to gain access to a variety of business transactions, including obtaining credit in the theft target's name.

Asked how he thought the new law was working, the lawmaker said, "It doesn't appear very well. If my Social Security number is on the World Wide Web, it seems like there must be a glitch in the system somewhere. I certainly would like to hear from the secretary of state on why this is happening."

posted by Fergie @ 1/19/2007 03:46:00 PM