You've Been Sold

By RICHARD A. CLARKE

Published: April 24, 2005

Have you seen the ad on television in which you hear someone talking excitedly about a spending spree because he isn't paying, because he has stolen someone's identity? We should not be laughing. We have few things as valuable to us as our identities, and yet there seem to be few things easier to steal. How much is your identity worth? About $2.10 in the marketplace of secret Internet chat rooms where stolen credit-card and Social Security numbers are bought and sold.