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It’s always important to protect your Social Security number (SSN), but it’s extra important to do so around tax time. Read More

A Social Security number can be used to steal your identity (commonly called identity theft) to commit fraud, open new credit and bank accounts, get medical care/other benefits and obtain employment.

Hardly a day goes by where data breaches and identity fraud don't make the headlines. In such a world, you may find yourself researching credit monitoring services.

Others can get your personal information in many ways including

While you can't always prevent identity theft, you can reduce your risk.

A CALPIRG/Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Report
By Janine Benner, CALPIRG; Beth Givens, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse; and Ed Mierzwinski, USPIRG.

 I. Executive Summary  

Presentation by Beth Givens, Director
at Identity Theft Summit on March 1, 2005
Sacramento, CA, Convention Center

Almost everyone has records containing personal information (Social Security number, financial information, medical history, etc.) around their home. You can help protect yourself from identity theft by properly destroying your old paper and digital records when you no longer need them.

Speech by Beth Givens, PRC Director
Presented at the SEARCH National Conference on
Privacy, Technology and Criminal Justice Information
Washington, DC