Crimes: Identity Theft in America Research Paper

Introduction

Nowadays, identity theft turns to be one of the most frequent and dangerous crimes for society. On the one hand, it does not usually cause much physical harm. On the other hand, it has so many unpleasant characteristics like the inability to be detected in its early stage, ethical contradictions, and the use of information technology progress as a good chance to be improved. This is why identity theft is usually defined as a serious crime that has to be taken into consideration all the time and evaluated by the professionals on a regular basis.

The statistics show that in 2012 more than 7% of all Americans under the age of 16 suffer from identity theft at least once in a life (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2015). It proves that even the current technological progress and the attempts to improve the situation do not influence, but do improve the situation of identity theft. Current paper aims at evaluating identity theft as a serious problem of all Americans that has to be solved. Identity theft should not be regarded as a social threat only; it is an ethical problem that is supported by the development of information technology progress and touches millions of people annually.

Identity Theft as One of the Frequently Used Forms of Crime

A peculiar feature of identity theft is its ability to seduce a person within a short period of time. There is so much personal information around that can be stolen, and many people do not take much care of its security. In fact, it is so easy and sometimes even funny to steal identity in America, and it is so hard to catch a thief. People may get more general information about this issue watching such movies like Catch Me If You Can, Taking Lives, The Jackal, or Identity Thief. These movies may be defined as the sources that involve people into the idea of identity theft and prove that it is one of the possible ways to earn good money.

Identity theft may gain a number of forms: a temporary use of personal information, the use of credit cards, bank accounts, social security numbers, etc. Biegelman (2009) admits that someone’s identity is reported to be stolen every 79 seconds.¹ The reasons of why identity theft takes place so often is people’s inabilities or neglect to protect personal data. Many people do not want to believe that some other person may want to have personal information or do not find it really possible until something wrong happens.

Progress of Information Technologies as a Motivation for Identity Thieves

People want to believe that the currently developed technological progress is one of the most credible forms of personal information protection. It becomes easier to fight identity theft using, for example, technological or conventional coping as a good form of securing information and make it close to people, who should not have any kind of connection to it (Fujun, Dahui, & Hsieh, 2012).

However, at the same time, information technologies may be used as a powerful motivation for people to get involved in identity theft and a good ability to use the easiest ways and steal personal information of other people within a short period of time without any difficulties. This is why the concept of information technology should be regarded as a serious threat to human identity.

The point is that identity theft is the type of crime that may be explained and even appreciated by means of technologies. People understand that an access to each other’s information is possible via the Internet. Lots of people do not even think about the ways of sharing information online. It seems to be normal and appropriate to give personal information during the process of registration and not to consider a number of ethical issues concerning identity theft.

Ethical Perspective of the Identity Theft Analysis

Analysing identity theft, it is necessary to mention various ethical issues by means of which the essence of this type of crime may be properly understood. One of the main rules that cannot be neglected is the fact that identity is something personal, and no one has the right to steal it for any reason. Each person is also provided with a right to privacy. Identity is a kind of privacy, and if a person steals this type of privacy, the right’s violation takes place.

People cannot even understand that identity theft is more ethical than political or economic issues. And America is the country, where much attention is paid to the violations of ethic rights and norms. This is why identity theft in America is a burning question since the 1970s, when it began to grow.² Nowadays, the complicated schemes of identity theft become again too simple so that people can hardly understand that they become new victims of this kind of crime.

Current Victims and Offenders

In fact, nowadays, it is so easy to become a victim of an identity thief. Offenders may offer free music or cheap antivirus protection just in order to make a person download some kind of software (Biegelman, 2009). As soon as the software comes to someone’s personal computer, identity thieves can take any kind of personal information like personal passwords, keystrokes, account information, etc. Though more than 9% of identity theft victims addressed police in 2012 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2012), it did not influence the progress of the crime at all. People continue to lose money, forget passwords, and suffer from unexpected robberies.

Significant Threats of Identity Theft for a Future

The main threat of identity theft is human inability to believe in the seriousness of this type of crime. In other words, people just do not want to understand how it is dangerous to share personal information online and how vulnerable people become as soon as they neglect this simple rule. The role of technology in identity theft remains to be crucial as it may prevent a crime in a future: the use of credible antivirus software may prevent the exchange of harmful files, the use of firewalls can limit the access to harmful applications, and the use of special biometrics may deprive offenders of a chance to get an access to personal information.

Conclusion

In general, the peculiar feature of IT progress is that it may increase the identity theft ratings as well as help people to overcome the problems with identity offenders. There are so many people, who prefer to develop their business online and share their personal information via the Internet. People make their identities vulnerable for offenders, and they have to take as many protective steps as possible to overcome the problems and protect identity. Identity protection is a personal affair of everyone. No one can protect it better, and information technologies as well as ethical issues have to be considered to succeed in this kind of a process.

Reference List

Biegelman, M.T. (2009). Identity theft handbook: Detection, prevention, and security. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2015). Victims of Identity Theft, 2012. Web.

Fujun, L., Li, D., Hsieh, C.T. (2012). Fighting identity theft: The coping perspective. Decision Support Systems, 52(2), 353-363.

Footnotes

1 The official site of Bureau of Justice Statistics may be used to find more information about the current cases of identity theft.

2 Biegelman mentions that the 1970s was the period, when identity theft demonstrated its progression from simple to complex schemes within a short period of time.