I wrote about this case in October and thought at the time it represented a case of prosecutorial indulgence. The issue at stake here is whether or not an undocumented immigrant that uses false identification can be charged with identity theft if the data on the false documentation actually belongs to someone else.

To be clear, the case does not address the issues associated with immigrating illegally or using false documents to obtain work or social benefits. Even the defendent's counsel concedes his client is guilty of those infractions. The sole issue in question here is if you create or purchase a fake Social Security card with an I.D. number on it that belongs to someone else, have you in addition committed identity theft.  It seems like a reach to me and  in October the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. Based on this...

WARNING: This posting is off topic.  It's going to happen occasionally.

To be clear, I've never met Peggy Noonan, nor do I ever expect to. As such it's not really Ms. Noonan herself with whom I'm in love. It's her writing. For the last year or more, my regular Saturday morning routine has included reading her column on the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal. Normally, Ms. Noonan covers political matters, but this week's column focuses on the impact of an apparently still deepening recession. I'll get back to this week's column in a minute, but first let me tell you a few things about Ms. Noonan.

Peggy Noonan first came to national prominence as Ronald Reagan's speech writer. Her book on the experience, What I Saw at the Revolution, is considered one of...

Average Cost of Breach Per Record

Every year PGP Corporation sponsors a series of research projects to determine trends and costs of data breach. These projects are carried out by the Ponemon Institute. Currently, this research is carried out in the U.S., UK and Germany. This week’s G-Blog illuminates the cost of data breach on a per record basis for each of nine sectors.  The full reports are available...

Shilpi Dey - Product Marketing Manager

It arrived in a non-descript envelope, similar to the ones promising exciting credit card offers. I would have tossed it in the recycling bin without opening, except that it was from one of the banks (let’s call it bank “B”) where I had an account, and something made me pause and break open the seal. The letter inside explained that some CDs and tapes containing some of my personal information were lost while being transported to an off-site storage facility. The letter reassured me that security is Bank B’s top priority; however, their archive services vendor had notified them that they could not account for one of several boxes of tapes and CDs being transported to their off-site storage facility. The missing media contained some personal information such as name, address, Social Security number and/or shareowner account information. I was especially relieved that though Bank B had not yet...