The Identity Theft Protection Guide by Amanda Welsh Ph.D

Author:Amanda Welsh, Ph.D.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250089915
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

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LISTING VS. REPORTING VS. PROFILING

It’s important to begin to distinguish between different kinds of tracking afforded by technology. The distinctions that we’ll adopt in this book aren’t always clear-cut, but it is important to have some means of separating one form of information collection from another to determine the potential impact a particular instance of tracking can have on you.

Listing occurs when companies or government or other organizations place your name, and perhaps some limited set of identifying characteristics or contact information about you in a central place. The information is generally updated only when there is a change in the information. There is no regular reporting of any transactions. The fact that you are on the list is information about you in itself. Lists can be sold, rented, or exchanged between organizations. You have the power to control whether or not you appear on some but not all lists.

Reporting occurs when companies supply information about your transaction history to a central company that in turn makes that history available—for a fee—to other companies considering doing business with you. Reporting often tracks sensitive information, and unauthorized access to it makes you vulnerable to identity theft. You generally don’t control whether or not you are subject to reporting.

Profiling occur when information about you is examined and predictions about your behavior are made based upon the actions of other people like you. For an insurance company to rely on the fact that you’ve made three claims in two years is an example of their use of reporting. When they consider a score that ranks your likelihood to make a future claim based on the actions of other people who in some way are similar to you, this is an example of profiling. Most of the time you don’t control whether or not you are being profiled.

Profiling has become something of a dirty word lately, so it’s worth a little more explanation. The truth is that we all engage in profiling from time to time. Consider what happens when you meet someone for the first time at a party. Based on his or her answers to your questions, you draw upon your experience of similar people to fill in your image of the person you’ve just met.

There are times when profiling has the possibility to become sinister—when you are not fully informed that it is being done and how, or when you disagree with the connections a profiler is making between one piece of information and another. Profiling can be especially dangerous when no additional individual information is considered or when it is used for very important or enduring decisions. These times warrant your attention and are worth your voicing an opinion.

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