Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Similar Documents
What a tangled web we weave: identity theft and the Internet
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Finch, Emily |
| Copyright Year | 2012 |
| Abstract | Following the news of the Paddington rail crash in October 1999, Lee Simm reported his flatmate, Karl Hackett, missing. According to Simm, Hackett had been due to return from a trip to Cheltenham on the train that crashed. No trace of Hackett's body was found and his family, from whom he had been estranged for more than ten years, were notified and attended a memorial service at the site of the crash. It later transpired that Hackett had not been killed in the train crash; he had not even been on the train. However, it was discovered that his flatmate, Simm, who reported Hackett missing, had been dead for 15 years, hi order to escape his criminal record, Hackett adopted Simm's identity after his friend committed suicide. Hackett went on to live a blameless life using Simm's name and other personal details and would probably have remained undetected had he not decided to 'kill off' his former self in the rail crash (The Sunday Times 2000:14). Such a wholesale and enduring absorption of another's persona provides a relatively uncommon example of identity theft. The Hackett/ Simm case is unusual in that identity theft typically involves a partial and transient adoption of another's identity undertaken in order to facilitate criminal activity. Identity theft spans a wide spectrum of conduct that covers varying degrees of fraudulent behaviour. This chapter will begin with a consideration of the nature of identity, focusing on the disparity between individual, social and legal constructions of identity, and explore what it means for a person's identity to be stolen. Having outlined the various manifestations of identity theft, the chapter will go on to |
| Starting Page | 94 |
| Ending Page | 112 |
| Page Count | 19 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.4324/9781843924449-10 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.popcenter.org/problems/identity_theft/PDFs/Finch_2003.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://popcenter.org/problems/identity_theft/PDFs/Finch_2003.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.popcenter.org/problems/Supplemental_Material/identity_theft/Finch_2003.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.4324/9781843924449-10 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
