Today’s featured ebook download is Identity Theft and Your Social Security Number (218 KB, 8 pg) – Someone illegally using your Social Security number can steal your financial identity and your money. Find out how to prevent identify theft, how to report it if you suspect it, and if you can get a new Social Security number if you are a victim.

What you can learn from this ebook

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in America. When a dishonest person has your Social Security number, the thief can use it to get other personal information about you. Most of the time identity thieves use your number and your good credit to apply for more credit in your name. Then, they use the credit cards and do not pay the bills. You do not find out that someone is using your number until you are turned down for credit, or you begin to get calls from unknown creditors demanding payment for items you never bought.

Someone illegally using your Social Security number and assuming your identity can cause a lot of problems. Your Social Security number and our records are confidential. We do not give your number to anyone, except when authorized by law. You should be careful about sharing your number with anyone who asks for it (even when you are provided with a benefit or service).

Today’s featured ebook download is ID Theft: What It’s All About (611 KB, 36 pg) – A small information pamphlet from the FTC that details how thieves can steal your personal information and use it to commit fraud for long periods without your knowledge. Here’s how to protect yourself, and what to do if you are a victim.

What you can learn from this ebook

In the course of a busy day, you may write a check at the grocery store, charge tickets to a ball game, rent a car, mail your tax returns, change service providers for your cell phone, or apply for a credit card. In each transaction, you reveal bits of personal information, like your bank and credit card account numbers; your income; your Social Security number (SSN); or your name, address, and phone numbers a goldmine of information for an identity thief. Once a thief has that information, it can be used without your knowledge to commit fraud or theft.

Identity theft is a serious crime. People whose identities have been stolen can spend time and money cleaning up the mess the thieves have made of their good name and credit record. They may lose out on job opportunities, and loans for education, housing, or cars. They may even get arrested for crimes they didn’t commit.

Can you prevent an identity theft? As with any crime, you cannot completely control whether you will become a victim. But according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, you can minimize your risk by managing your personal information cautiously.

A federal judge ordered Google to deactivate an email account of someone who was sent a confidential email by accident by a bank. The order was issued by the U.S. District Court Judge James Ware. He is a district court judge in the northern district of California.

Along with the order to deactivate the account, the judge also ordered that the gmail account user be identified and that the court be given his or her contact information, even though the Gmail account user has not been accused of any wrong doing in the case.

The ruling stems from a monumental error by the Wilson, Wyo.-based Rocky Mountain Bank. On Aug. 12, the bank mistakenly sent names, addresses, social security numbers and loan information of more than 1,300 customers to a Gmail address. When the bank realized the problem, it sent a message to that same address asking the recipient to contact the bank and destroy the file without opening it. No one responded, so the bank contacted Google to ask for information about the account holder.

In keeping with its privacy policy, Google told the bank it would have to get a court order to obtain such data. The bank then filed papers asking a court to order Google to disclose the information and deactivate the account.

When the bank tried to file its papers under a seal, the U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Whyte did not allow that to happen. It was earlier in the week that the case went from Whyte to Ware.

What do you do when an email account is given information that it was obviously never supposed to get? i think that the user in this situation should at least be notified as to what is going on with his or her account (and the bank, along with the U.S. District Court should hope that the user is not a consumer rights activist or read the Consumerist on a regular basis.). I suppose the bank should have tried to shut down the email that was sent, but should the email account really have been turned off completely?

What do you all think?

I’m not so sure myself. I don’t think that the account should have been turned off.