Why Is Identity Theft Allowed?

This is a governmental choice.

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels, cropped by the author

NOTE: Within this text, wherever gender is not key to the explanation, I am using the Elverson ey/em construction of the Spivak Pronouns.

A few years ago I started getting phone calls from strangers asking why I had called them. Initially, I assumed this was someone else with a similar number until the interruptions increased to a few calls a week, then I figured it out. My phone number had been cloned by one of those marketing firms that call you with a phone number in your exchange in order to impersonate a friend or someone referred by a friend. Yup, my phone number was being used for those calls.

I contacted my mobile provider, the company that had allowed this theft, and they said that the only solution was to change my phone number. When I asked what would prevent them stealing that number, the answer was, “Nothing.” So with a little tomfoolery, a company can look like they are calling from any number they choose and there is no mechanism to secure your number. This indicates that our telephone network and its caller id procedure is fundamentally flawed.

Of course, I got off easy. My phone number had been hacked but my personal identity, so far, had not. Lots of companies make a lot of money by claiming to protect your personal information. Aura, LifeLock and…