(C) 2000. Permission is granted to print, copy, and distribute hard (non-electronic) copies of this page freely and without royalties of any kind, provided that it is not altered in any manner. This leaflet does not claim to have expert or professional information on identity theft, but there's a bit of common sense: look for the lock icon on your browser before submitting private information! Represents my personal opinion, not the NRA's.
The Million Mom March chapter application was placed on a secure Web page on July 31, 2000-- possibly due to the following letter.
Subject: Possible identity theft exposure
on Million Mom March Web site
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 12:32:55
-0400
From: "William A. Levinson" [e-mail given]
[NRA Life Member]
To: chapters@millionmommarch.com CC:
StopGunVio@aol.com
You'll be getting a certified letter from me about this,
but I'm telling you by E-mail so you can correct it as rapidly as possible.
Your chapter application form at http://www.millionmommarch.com/html/chapters/chapterappl.html
asks for the chapter organizer's date of birth, Social Security number,
and driver's license number. The lock icon for encrypted transmission does
NOT appear on my browser (Netscape 4.7) when I look at this form. Per the
San Mateo Sheriff's Office at http://www.smcsheriff.com/id-theft.htm, "Identity
theft is when someone uses your name and your identifing data such as;
Date of Birth Social Security Number Drivers
License Number Other personal information like your mothers maiden
name to illegally use your idenity To defraud, extort or commit
various types of financial crimes."
And your Web page requests three out of four of these
(all but mother's maiden name) over an insecure connection.
I do not want innocent people, even if they're on the
other side of the gun control issue, to get hurt by identity thieves or
credit card thieves because the Million Mom March compromised their personal
and financial information. The following is NOT expert or professional
security advice, and I urge you to consult a computer security professional,
but these items come to mind immediately.
· Fix your security exposures before requesting
this kind of information in the future or, even better, don't request it
at all.
· Secure (or delete) this information if
it's on your computers.
· Warn people who have already transmitted
this form to put fraud alerts on their credit reports (see the San Mateo
Sheriff's link for the three credit bureaus).
· Encrypt your connection for ordering Million
Mom March T-shirts if you haven't already done this (to prevent interception
of credit card numbers). The lock icon doesn't show up on that page, either.
Regards, Bill Levinson
----------------------------------------------
See https://secure.millionmommarch.com/html/chapters/chapterappl.html,
MODIFIED
ON JULY 31 08:14 LOCAL TIME.
I'm on the side that your leaders in the Bell Campaign / Million Mom
March accuses of leaving guns unlocked around children, the side that your
side says needs to be licensed and registered. But the Million Mom March
left your personal information unlocked, and it took one of "our kind"
to get them to fix the problem. This leaflet may seem uncharitable for
pointing it out-- but we are entitled to make our case.
Note: The San Mateo sheriff's office page has contact information for the three major credit bureaus (Transunion, Equifax, Experian). If you already submitted your personal information or credit card number without encryption (or even if you didn't, and you just want to make it harder for identity thieves and credit card thieves to victimize you), you may want to put a fraud alert on your credit report. I did so myself simply as a general security precaution. Again, this is not expert or professional crime-prevention advice.