Opt in ID Theft?

[mikmik]

I came across this interesting article at pcmag. In it, the author has some words about how illegeal some ploys may actually not be, and how the victims must take some responsibility for their own actions.
What do you think?

Here is a quote, and a link to the article:

But here's the thing: Up to this point, nothing overtly illegal has happened. Sure the company being spoofed might have a case against the phisher, but the phisher is only asking you for information. It's at this moment that many victims opt in to have their identities stolen.

Is it their fault? Yes and no. That someone created the scam and actively pursued them (and thousands of others) is not the victim's fault. But anyone who is online needs to take as much care as they would walking through an unfamiliar city or neighborhood. Yes, be friendly and polite, but understand that you really don't know any of these people and that if they ask you for something you wouldn't normally give out—don't.

Here is the whole piece.

[wenwilder]

I was just in a seminar about online security and let me tell you, identity theft doesn't scare me half as much as what I learned. That doesn't mean it is not at the top of my list of threats. I just means that we have more control over identity theft then we do over any other threat on the internet.

If people would remember just one simple rule of thumb:

If you wouldn't give the information to a stranger on the street then don't give it to a stranger on the other side of the monitor!!!

It just amazes me how people can 'dismiss' identity theft, or the increase in online threats, as "not that bad". A new computer connected to the internet will be compromised within 15 minutes. It takes longer for me to write a post than that, some days! Scary thought huh?

[mikmik]

And it takes longer than that for me to read them haha.

Good rule of thumb there, wen, I like it much.

Virus/worm/trojan...potential for damage = your hard drive and data.

ID theft............potential for damage = your life savings, jail etc