Do you know where you are?

During the past week at work, I've been getting a lot of applications from people wanting fines revoked because someone has used their name/identity. It's actually pretty easy; Person A gets pulled over by the police for a driving offence, or stopped on public transport, and gives the name, address and birthdate of a friend (or at least someone they well know enough to know those details). They get asked for ID, explain they've forgotten their wallet, lost their licence, whatever, and get told to show ID at the nearest police station within seven days. And then they are let go and a fine issued in that name and sent to the address given. Person B, whose identity was used, gets the fine in the mail and quite appropriately goes, "What the?"

It's interesting, in this Age of Information, how easy it still is to borrow someone else's identity. It's as easy as giving someone else's name, or taking a housemate's Health Care card, or finding a lost wallet. And it reflects how ephemeral official identity is. It's pretty easy to get ID in someone else's name - you just make a false statement on the application form.

Online, it's even more so. You can assume whatever identity you want to; some say their online identity is more of a reflection of their "true" identity than the public one. And who's to say otherwise?

*grins* Altogether heavy for a Saturday morning. I'm off for the library instead.