The lens that we currently view identity theft through is wrong. Especially when it comes to monitoring services. While I will never discourage anyone from being proactive about monitoring his or her data, it’s simply not an all-or-nothing game. As I mentioned in a previous post – not all transactions can be captured (nor all at once).

My point is not to dismiss being diligent about your data, but be clear about what is really being monitored. It is simply a way to feel like you have some control over something you have little or no control over.

Under the guise of tracking fraudulent activity, what monitoring programs are truly capturing are instances of gross inefficiencies in our transactional systems.

Entities are failing us in three ways: not protecting the data that you have entrusted to them, participating in fraudulent transactions and they have positioned themselves as victims and look to you to buttress their inadequacies. And, consumers have unquestionably accepted this burdensome responsibility.

This current view is not working. Until identity theft is no longer tolerated as being shouldered by consumers, it will continue to be an insurmountable threat and one that will drain resources.

photo courtesy of Derek Gavey