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In order to avoid identity theft it has been proposed that consumers should have complete control of their personal data. This is something the Jack Dunning (who runs a blog on the subject) has concluded. And he should know, he has spent 35 years selling consumer's personal data to the junk mail industry.

And there have been some advances. Commercial institutions and businesses are taking better care of our data. Data breaches in the industry are less common but problems do still occur and there appear to be a number of ingrained habits which need working on.

There appears, at first sight, to be much movement on the horizon regarding identity crime, identity fraud and identity theft. But on closer inspection, identity theft legislation could be seen as ineffective especially when dealing with sophisticated criminals and organised gangs. Rules and regulations which have been drawn up can have too many exceptions for businesses and institutions. This can make the regulations worthless and unmanageable.

As with many things it appears that in the realms of identity theft there is too much sorting out of problems once they have arisen rather than dealing with prevention in the first place. Even institutions which have a very public persona and easily readable and detailed data collection rules and regulations, can fall foul to identity theft. Criminals do not even have to be very determined in order to steal your identity.

Postal services, for instance, can mistakenly deliver mail to the wrong address, and even with the current threat of identity theft and increasing identity crime, some of this mail can contain sensitive personal data including name, address, date of birth and other personal details. The problem is made worse when one considers that this type of delivery is often unsolicited.

The credit and charge card companies that often are perpetrators of this particular misdemeanour are also the ones that are on the receiving end of complaints regarding identity theft. They are also liable for the rectification to the victims of identity fraud. It may seem churlish to point out, but wouldn't life be better if the credit card and charge card companies at least practised a system whereby sensitive data is protected rather than disseminated?

For further information and resources on identity theft, internet crime and online security visit the New Identity Theft website operated by Eric Hartwell.