ID Theft & Other Things

Hi,

Bob here...

There are so many things happening in the news lately, I'm finding it difficult not to write more than once a week. Froggy would probably tell me to let it slide, because he believes that no one will take a blind bit of notice what I say anyhow. I'd like to think that you are all very caring people, proving to me that he can be wrong once in a while.

As I was pottering around my garden the other day, trimming some of the shrubs and generally tidying up here and there, a strange and yet interesting thought suddenly occurred to me. Every now and again, the world's astronomers and scientists frequently speak about the prospect of visiting one of the planets in our solar system, where, so we are told, they would attempt to terraform the land for possible habitation in the future. Through trials carried out here on Earth, they believe that such an undertaking could be successful. However, I feel that I must ask the following pertinent question: why do they think that they have the right to go to another world, terraform it so that the planet could sustain human life, when in our present day society, we have proven to be quite incapable of looking after the very planet we all currently live on? I would say this, don't start thinking about spending billions in order to get to other worlds, until you can put your own house in order first!

Lately in the news, something that won't go away, like a dose of the pox, is this plan to introduce ID cards for everyone who lives in the UK. In an article I read yesterday, Froggy would say at this point that you shouldn't believe everything you read ;), and I'm sure he's right, a government official explained that ID cards were the best way of ensuring that people are exactly who they say they are. Jeez! Now how's that for a thicko statement? For me, once all the crooks learn how to forge these cards, and they surely will, make no mistake about it, no one's ID is going to be safe. When there are hackers capable of breaking into the most secure institutions in the world, why should our gov think that their super sophisticated system will be any more secure than any of these high profile institutions were?

The gov also tells us that ID cards will combat terrorism and promote national security. You know what? These people should be writing comedy for television. Would ID cards have prevented those shocking attacks on London? Damned right they wouldn't! An ID card will hopefully be a means of identifying a person. It won't tell the authorities what kind of person they are. A card's biometric data will only be read should the card actually be checked, and from what I recall of the London incident, if these men had actually had ID cards, these cards would not have told the police, nor anyone else for that matter, that these men were possible terrorists. So, how the hell does an ID card combat terrorism for goodness sake? If you think I'm wrong, then please convince me?

This leads me on to the shocking subject of ID theft itself. I'm sorry to have to say this, but everyone in society today is responsible for a lot of ID theft. We throw tons of rubbish away in our dustbins every day, items that readily identify who the hell we are. As insignificant as these items may seem to us at the time, we should never just discard them with our household rubbish. Burn it! Shred it! Don't simply toss it in your bin. There are people out there in the real world, not the one you seem to live in, who feel right at home getting stuck in up to their armpits in your smelly bins. Why? Because they know that it's really worthwhile for them to do it. Your bin is their pathway to riches, via your bank, building society and credit card accounts.

I know that lots of you probably never bother to watch your television much, and would rather be throwing back a few pints at your local, but recently, a television programme showed us that when we get rid of our old PCs, we never make sure that any private material like those bank, building society account and credit card details, along with all of your passwords and usernames, have actually been removed first. There are scumbags in Nigeria who are ready, willing and more than able to relieve your accounts of its hard won savings. How come? Well, when you trotted your old PC along to your local recycling depot in an attempt to show that you're going green, Nigeria is the country where your old PC suddenly found itself a brand new home. This golden opportunity offers unscrupulous Nigerians a completely open door to all your money, courtesy of your personal data stored on your old hard drive. Now, if you can't remove this data yourself, and deleting it does nothing but give the impression that it no longer exists, then download a prog from the internet that will do the job for you. Failing this, you could simply remove the hard drive before your old PC goes off to the recycling depot.

One of the most shocking things I learnt recently about ID theft, was in connection with India's booming Call Centre trade. Here, there are even more of those scumbags I've just talked to you about, thieves just itching to pass your bank, building society and credit card details, on to anyone willing to part with great wads of ready cash. Believe me, this is a very lucrative source of ready money to these people. It's a wonder they aren't on the stock exchange... As I see it, it's high time that all Call Centres were brought back into the UK. And yes, there is no doubt that ID theft would still occur here, but in the UK we are in a better position to have it stamped out by our police forces, than to have it occur half way round the world where our laws mean absolutely nothing at all to these people.

Time for me to be getting inside, it's starting to get a little chilly now.

So, I'll see you all in the garden next time, bye!
Bob (For Froggy)