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On The Lookout For Identity Theft
State and local officials need to be on the lookout for identity theft and fraud because the proliferation of the Internet enables more access and easier means of illegally obtaining personally identifiable information, a federal official said Monday.
Patrick O'Carroll, assistant inspector for the Social Security Administration (SSA), told attendees of the National Association of Counties (NACo) meeting in Washington that SSA receives about 90,000 identity-theft calls each year, with 50 percent of that number regarding the theft of Social Security numbers, and the agency devotes about 15 percent of its resources just to handling the complaints.
"And to tell you the truth, that's just the tip of the iceberg," O'Carroll said, adding that birth-certificate fraud is another increasing problem. States with open-records laws, such as California, Kentucky, Minnesota and Oregon, allow people to request copies of their birth certificates. But on the Web, services such as www.usbirthcertificatesbureau.com and www.uspassportsbureau.com, both of which are produced by U.S. Vital Records, allow users to request copies of personal documents as long as they mail copies of a driver's license, fill out a form and pay a small fee.
The problem of identity theft does not end at death, either, O'Carroll said. When a person dies, their rights to privacy die with them, which means their Social Security numbers become public, and the SSA is required to publish information about the deceased. People can open a credit-card account with a dead person's information — which is one reason credit-card companies open accounts with the assumption that there will be $3,000 worth of fraud on that account at some point.
"There is a proliferation out there of these documents we consider sacred ... [that are] are being bought and sold on the Web," O'Carroll said.
Honda To Launch NET Corps
Silicon Valley Rep. Mike Honda, D, is set to introduce his National Education Technology Corps Act of 2001 (NET Corps) on Thursday. The NET Corps would function under the Corporation for National Service to recruit volunteers with tech skills to provide technical support to school network administrators and technology training to teachers. In return, the companies that employ the volunteers would receive federal tax credits.
Honda spokesman Ernest Baynard said the bill should appeal to centrist Republicans, as well as members of his own party, because of its "pro-business" aspect. "It's not some draconian scheme from Washington," Baynard said, adding that schools can dictate their own needs.
The bill would build upon existing laws designed to strengthen efforts by nonprofit organizations such as TechCorp that currently are working to integrate technology into classrooms. "This is not reinventing the wheel here," Baynard said.
Upton Gets Wireless In Michigan
Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, visited Western Michigan University on Monday to learn about the school's "Wireless Campus" initiative. The initiative would permit an "anywhere, anytime" capability that would eliminate the need for students to use their laptops only in computing centers or dorm rooms.
Upton met with WMU administrators, including Vice President of Information Technology Viji Murali, and saw the technology of the initiative firsthand, reports the campus newspaper, the Western Herald. The campus plans to have resources in place that would allow students to have wireless connections anywhere on campus within 12 months.
WMU administrators also discussed other efforts to modernize campus technology. Chief among them was a plan to create a classroom laboratory, capable of accommodating more than 100 students, where teachers and students could use cutting-edge technology such as wireless connections.
ACLU Defends Anonymous Posters
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has come to the defense of anonymous Web posters in Washington state and Pennsylvania.
The ACLU of Washington State and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have asked a federal court in Seattle to quash a subpoena that would force an Internet service provider to disclose the identity of anonymous bulletin-board users. Defense lawyers are trying to block a mandate from 2TheMart.com to identify 23 speakers who used pseudonyms in participating in the Silicon Investor Web site owned by InfoSpace.
In the appeal of Melvin vs. Dow in Pennsylvania, meanwhile, the ACLU has challenged the ruling to an appeals court judge so the courts cannot ferret out the identities of Web critics. AOL Time Warner also submitted a legal brief in the Melvin case, which said "attempts to intimidate online critics by filing such actions constitutes "an illegitimate use of the courts to silence and retaliate against speakers."
On The FAST Track
Release of the first solicitation of proposals for the new $3.5 million Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST) has been delayed until the end of March, according to people at the National Small Business Innovation Research Conference held in Tulsa, Okla., last week. Also, sources for the State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI) indicate that President Bush's fiscal 2002 budget request is reported to include $3.5 million for the FAST Partnership and $1.5 million for the Rural Outreach Program, which aims to strengthen support systems for tech business development.
The continuation of funding for both programs marks a shift in the Small Business Administration's practices during the Clinton administration of zeroing out programs created by congressional initiative. The additional year of funding, if approved by Congress, also would give states better ground for designing new programs to assist small businesses in commercializing technology, planning to meet FAST matching requirements and making hiring commitments.
In related news, the National Science Foundation has published online the latest edition of the annual series: Science and Engineering State Profiles: 1998-99. The profiles summarize science and engineering activities in each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The report also includes a table that includes population, per-capita income and workforce figures.
AOL: You've Got Government
The America Online division of AOL Time Warner on Monday launched its new GovernmentGuide 2.0, a comprehensive online listing of federal, state and local government information, resources and services.
Building on the success of the GovernmentGuide 1.0 service unveiled in 1999, AOL has expanded the product to include more than 60,000 federal, state and local sites in a clear, easily searchable directory. Consumers can get quick-click access to the most complete listings of federal, state and local information. Users of the new GovernmentGuide will have access to zip-code-specific government information. Citizens also can learn how to register to vote, pay their taxes, register a boat, dispose of recyclables and find a registered day-care provider for their children.
- by Liza Porteus
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