Google and your MAC Address now with Street View

10.27.10, I've updated this article to include some recent news about Street View below.

Google CEO apparently has a total disregard for your privacy:

... have long desired the ability to cross reference the Mac address of a user's connection with their real identity and virtual identity, such as their Gmail or Facebook account.

... Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently said internet users shouldn't worry about privacy unless they have something to hide.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/22/google_streetview_logs_wlans/

Update 10.27.10.
Here is a related article about Street View and how Google has appointed a "director of privacy" (a bit late I think) regarding after

Google announced that it had accidentally collected passwords, e-mails and other personal information from random Wi-Fi users while working on its Street View feature.

They go on to say

said employees will get enhanced privacy training during orientation, and starting in December, all employees will be required to take part in a security-awareness program.

Also a bit late I think, they have been required to have Privacy and Security Training since 2003.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/10/26/google.street.view/index.html?hpt=Sbin

CNN.com has a collection of articles on this topic here
http://topics.cnn.com/topics/google_street_view

Bllippy

I meant to post this earlier when I heard of it through a more direct source, but again, buyer beware it seems, and I may post more soon about Google and them showing your house online based on your computer's MAC address which is commonly tied to email and other online activity, but back to Blippy:

several credit card transactions shared on social networking site Blippy have been exposed -- with full credit card numbers included -- in Google search results.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/04/23/credit.card.numbers.mashable/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Free credit reports: not so free

As many of you know, I was telling you this at least two years ago:

As part of the new CARD Act of 2009, companies advertising free credit reports are now required to clearly disclose that what's being marketed isn't the free credit report you're entitled to receive by law.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/02/pf/free_credit_report/index.htm

AnnualCreditReport.com is the official site to help consumers to obtain their free credit report.
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

Fighting identity theft not a priority, report says

Apparently we need to be vigilant looking out for ourselves, as many of you know.

Ten million Americans a year are victims of identity theft. It's a growing problem in the United States, but fighting it doesn't appear to be a priority, a new report says.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/30/identity.theft/index.html?iref=allsearch

Medical Information Bureau (MIB)

If you have a Medical Identity Theft issue, you may need to contact the MIB about your records. Information on how to do that is here on their website where they describe themselves and their mission:

http://www.mib.com/html/consumer_protection.html

Dead but not because of Identity Theft

This is not an Identity Theft article but it could have been. I have met and trained people who were listed as Deceased on their credit reports. A dead person can be a good target for an Identity Thief.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/19/MNAI1CI0SC.DTL&nopu=1

Being dead can be a real drag, especially if you're alive.

Just ask Doris Temple, 85, a Navy veteran who learned in January that the government had declared her deceased. Strongly suspecting an error, she protested, but not before she lost her health insurance and thousands of dollars in income - Social Security benefits as well as private insurance and pension payments.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/19/MNAI1CI0SC.DTL&nopu=1#ixzz0ieRPBRcR

Identity Theft is a very complex issue

This is an excellent article illuminating the complexity of the Identity Theft Issue although that is not the primarly focus of the article:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/05/cyberattack.prosecute/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Some interesting quotes:

...the whole get-the-bad-guys effort, while it makes for good drama, is a futile way to secure the Internet, some computer security experts say.

...On Wednesday, Spanish authorities announced the arrests of three men in connection with a "botnet" network of nearly 13 million infected computers, which is believed to be one of the largest in the world. The infected network, called Mariposa, or "butterfly" in Spanish, was used to steal financial or personal information from people in at least 190 countries.

...The people who actually write these programs -- the keys to cybercrime -- are almost impossible to catch and prosecute....

...Lindner said it's unclear if the authors of malicious code are doing anything illegal.

..."The U.S. doesn't have jurisdiction on the [entire] planet Earth, so even if you can identify the author [of the malicious program], that doesn't give us the legal authority to get him, one, and two, it's not clear he's committing a crime," he said. "It's not illegal to write bad software. It's illegal to use it."

I'll end with this quote as it relates directly to the purpose of my blog and my profession

"The weak link in all this is still the user education," he said.

Feel free to contact me for information on protecting yourself, your company or your government agency. And please also share this blog address. Thank you.