Posted 1:45 PM

Blame CNN, not me!

Sun's Sara Gates takes issue with my latest newsletter on identity theft, believing I was taking Sun to task for trumpeting the fears consumers have about doing business on line.

Au contraire.

In fact, I intended to indict the general media for fanning the flames of identity theft just as they fan the flames of any other tragedy (shark attacks, etc.). Whether or not they have their facts straight doesn't matter, so long as there's a way to scare people and to simultaneously blame computers/the internet. Just as the general press earlier blamed video games, television, rock&roll, radio, movies and anything else that was new and different for all of society's ills.

In Sara's entry she posts this challenge:

"Ask your friends what their thoughts are on identity theft. (And I do not mean the vast minority of the world that work in technology. I mean your neighbor, your cousin, your wife's best friend.) Ask them about their opinions on identity theft. I have had this conversation a lot lately with my (non tech) friends & family. Right or wrong, people believe they are more at risk for ID theft with online transactions than elsewhere. "

I couldn't agree more. But it's not the technology companies that are to blame for the people's fears.