Identity

And as if by magic, following on from the previous post, here is something I had already prepared.

So, I get a telephone call from a company with whom I have done business. The “Customer Service Operator” asks to speak to me by name, I confirm it’s me, and she then asks me to confirm my full postal address. I’m in a bad mood.
Er, “Hold on” I say. “You have just called me on my landline number, so you know the address you are calling [it’s published in the telephone directory] but I accept that you don’t necessarily know it’s me, I could be lying. However, it’s pretty likely that whoever I am that I know where I am. On the other hand, as far as I’m concerned you could be anybody [I don’t have caller number identification] trying to steal my personal details for identity theft, so I should be asking you to confirm your identity”. “Sorry” she says, “it’s government regulations for the Data Protection Act”. “I don’t care.” says I, “please tell me the date and item of my last order”. “I can’t tell you that until I can confirm whom I am speaking to” she says. “Well I’m not telling you anything until you confirm who you are, you initiated the call so it’s up to you to confirm your identity to my satisfaction” I say. This goes on for a while in the same vein until we agree that she should put whatever it is she wants in writing and send it by post. Actually I was in a really bad mood.

So, exactly how do these “government regulations” or the proposed ID Cards help us to protect our Identity from theft in such circumstances? That’s it, you’ve got it, they don’t.

Back in May at the Redbridge Neighbourhood Watch AGM we had a speaker who was a retired Chief Constable from Leeds, Yorkshire. One of the things he warned us about was ID Cards and how easy it is, with modern computer technology, to create an ID Card. Do you know what a Policeman’s Warrant Card looks like? Would you be able to tell if it is genuine or a fake? I thought not.

The fact is we don’t make judgements based on a piece of plastic, at least some of us don’t, we make judgements based on a whole range of factors most of which are far more significant than an ID card and can be checked and verified, preferably in advance.