Identity Theft and the Legal System

I just read a fascinating article on identity theft http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/15/data.security, that suggests that government protect its citizens' identity much like they protect nuclear waste. I personally believe that is a fine idea, but I also believe that it is an idea that may not be implemented realistically. The reason I say this is because if there is one thing you can depend on in life is that no one will care about you (or your identity information in this case) as much as you do. I have an idea that is a slight twist on this article's focus: treat identities as you would a copyright or a patent with the same legal protections. The article suggests that a government that stores identity information sit on it for between 100-150 years. What about giving people the legal rights to protect their identity much like they would protect an invention or a piece of literature? It's not too much of a stretch if you think about it.

To clarify, let me use an example. Awhile ago, Bank of America admitted that they had lost some data containing identity information on thousands of customers. If there had been any identity theft as a result, the victim would be powerless to do anything about it. Similar to malpractice suits, I think it would be viable to have the identity theft victim sue the responsible parties for negligence in keeping (and the subsequent losing of) the identity information. If our identities are legally protected as any patent or copyright, the responsibility for holding that information tight would fall on the information collector. If there are real and financial consequences of losing customers' information, perhaps there would be more impetus to protecting that information.

This responsibility goes beyond private businesses and corporations to public institutions' guarding identity information as well. Giving citizens the means to sue the government, as well as companies, for similar negligence gives the state the sorely needed incentive to guard personal information. I'm not normally for what's sometimes called "jackpot justice" through suing, but for identity theft I believe it is essential to make real consequences for those who do not normally have the incentive to protect someone's identity as fiercely as the private citizen. Only then, by shifting the incentive to the data collector can we assure higher security and punish harshly lax identity protection.