Lisa,
There has been a lot of press _lately_ because the networks were in "Sweeps week", and the local stations were doing their bit to boost ratings by sticking to the time-honored TV tradition -
IF IT BLEEDS, IT LEADS!!!!
Technical _devices_ may make it easier to produce the forged documents needed to steal someone's identity. Technical _weaknesses_ don't make it easy to forge someone's identity: in fact, it's much more difficult to forge an electronic identity than a paper one. The weekness that makes identity theft more believeable in the context of the Internet is _human_ weakness, i.e., the tendency to give more weight and attention to bad news than to good.
Innocent people accused of crimes have the same protections they have always had -- the truth -- and the truth is that we all do very predictable things at very predictable times, in full view of dozens, if not hundreds, of witnesses. Innocent people seldom have trouble proving that they are what they seem.
Now that the Television sweeps are finished, let's all take a breath and hope for a collective attack of common sense.
William Warren
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