Identity Theft Monitoring Services

Many companies offer these services as additional protection for identity theft. Are they worth purchasing? Are they effective? Privacy Rights Clearinghouse recently published this new guide: "Straight Talk about Identity Theft Monitoring Services."

Unsolicited Text Message Suit Given Go Ahead

TMobile's attempt to dismiss a class action suit filed by disgruntled TMobile users has been dismissed. The suit, Zaldivar v. T-Mobile USA, alleges that TMobile forces cell phone users to pay for unsolicited text messages. Filed on July 15 in the Federal District Court for the Western District of Washington state, the suit alleges breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violations of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act.

Net Neutrality Suit On Hold

Jon Hart's suit against Comcast has been put on hold. Hart, a Comcast subscriber had sued Comcast alleging that the company is violating FCC net neutrality principles by interfering with certain types of internet traffic. The case has been put on hold until an FCC investigation into the matter has been concluded. The suit, originally filed in California Superior Court, has since been removed to federal court.

Deadline For Red Flag Rules Approaching

With the so-called Red Flag rules set to become effective on Nov. 1, the FTC is beginning a campaign to help educate the public on the details of the new regs. The FTC recently published an Alert to help companies better understand the law. The Red Flag rules require certain types of companies to implement identity theft prevention programs. See this previous post for more info.

McAfee's Spam Experiment

In an effort to better understand spam, McAfee recently commissioned 50 people to surf the net without any anti-spam/spyware protection for a period of a month. At the end of a month, the 50 participants had received 104,000 unsolicited messages, totalling around 70 messages a day for each participant. One of the findings was the amount emanating from outside the US. Of the 104,000 letters, only 23,233 were in English. During the month-long experiment, McAfee encouraged the participants to log their experiences in a blog. Check out the blog here.

New Spam Rules Go Into Effect

New CAN-SPAM rules, published in May, went into effect yesterday. Among other things, the new rules clarify who is obligated to comply with CAN-SPAM, clarify the definition of “sender,” and include new unsubscribe requirements. See this article for more info. For help complying with CAN-SPAM, including the new rules, see this White Paper from ExactTarget (free registration required).

2008 Security Breach Report

The Identity Theft Resource Center recently published their 2008 security breach incidence report. For each incident the report provides the number the exposed records, the breach type (print or electronic), and a link to a news article about the incident. So far in '08, the report counts 346 security breach incidents totalling upwards of 16 million exposed records.

California Expands Identity Theft Law

California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger recently signed into law SB 612 which makes it easier to prosecute identity theft crimes in California. Under the old system, prosecutions could only take place where the crime occurred, which is usually in the perpetrators' towns or cities. With the passage of this bill, prosecutors can now charge people with identity theft in the jurisdictions where the victims live. This is significant because prosecutors are generally more aggressive when they're fighting criminals in their home town.