Identity Negligence of the “new” AT&T & Apple

This article on the Blog of M’Gath raises a number of interesting issues of how Apple and ATT might be putting their customers’ identity in peril.

Basically, you can use anyones social security number during the iPhone activation process. As M’Gath puts it:

“When companies make identity theft trivially easy, is it any wonder that it's rampant?”

Or, when there is no standard set by law that puts a hefty burden on companies who negligently handle personal information.

This raises several issues.

If a company employee misplaces a PC which contains customer data, then the company should be held liable beyond the negative publicity that it will receive, thereby lessening the trust individuals have in a company.

However, the current system is set up in such a way that allows companies to not report cases of cyber-crime, even the information missing contains social security numbers or other important information that can be uses against you.

Therefore, unless the law changes to the contrary, companies will continue to underreport the true extent of cyber-crimes that may affect your personal information, and make it tremendously easier for criminals to misuse your information.