Do you know where your iPod is?
Thanks to The Register I've just noticed an article about an Immigration & Passport Service survey that suggests that people care more about their mobile phones and iPods than they do about their identities. Apparently 72% of us keep our iPods 'securely', but only 28% of us keep our passports 'locked away' (ah, so let's compare apples with oranges then).
Now, I'm not going to pick apart statistics - we all know what to make of them - but what concerns me here is a comparison that is simply unrealistic. I only use my passport when I'm travelling. It doesn't sit in my back pocket or briefcase at any other time. Sometimes when I'm looking for it, I need a few minutes to locate the exact drawer I left it in, but lose it? No.
Moreover, to lose my iPod, all I've got to do is turn my back on my bag or jacket when I'm in a bar, or leave it in my car, or drop it in the street. Losing my passport, however, requires my house to be burgled. I know which is more likely to happen (as a middle-class homeowner in a low-crime area).
This seems to me to be yet another puff piece trying to sell up ID Cards. BUT - at least IPS has avoided using the phrase 'identity theft' in the press release. If my passport is stolen, it's far more likely that my ID will be cloned rather than stolen - that is, new credit cards and loans will be taken out using my name, rather than the passport being used to access existing funds. So long as I can prove the theft, then I should be able to avoid the liabilities associated with the fraud.
What annoys me about all this is the consistent way in which the state and financial sector have portrayed the innocent citizen as the victim in identity theft cases, so as to move the liability away from themselves. Sure, it's a nightmare for me to clear up my identity after it's been cloned/stolen (who fancies suing a credit reference agency for libel if they give a wrong assessment?), but don't try to kid me that it's my problem if the government or a bank have been ripped off because I care more about my iPod or my passport.
And don't try to pretend that things will be any better when I'm carrying an ID Card - a document that will replace that passport - in my back pocket all the time. That's when I'm certain to lose it sooner or later...
2:03:19 PM 
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