"You've got these David and Goliath cases were the small consumer has gotten ripped off by a huge merchant. We need more laws that make it easier to either get restitution or to prosecute violators of privacy."

For persons over 50, the Internet has introduced a new and sometimes perplexing transactional medium. GlobalPOV spoke with AARP lawyer Sally Hurme to learn more about the impact that technology is having on the elderly population.

GlobalPOV: Give us a quick explanation of what the AARP does.
SH: It's a membership organization to improve the quality of life for persons over 50.

GlobalPOV: Is 'senior citizens' not a politically correct term anymore?
SH: No, it's not a PC term anymore. We just use "persons over 50."

GlobalPOV: What do you think it is about persons over 50 that makes them more attractive for fraud-type crimes?
SH: They're generally perceived as having more money.

GlobalPOV: What are the vulnerabilities in the current system that contribute to identity theft?
SH: There are many vulnerabilities - the buying, selling and trading of personal information, and the interloping of information off of the Internet. There's just a sub-river (that's outside of the normal consumer's sight) of information sharing and trading, and the efforts to put bits of information together from multiple sources. It's an amazing sort of market and underworld.

GlobalPOV: Persons over 50 are used to doing business and transactions in a completely different environment, aren't they?
SH: Yes. You used to know the merchants and business people you were dealing with. It was typically a small town community, and you grew up with the merchants on Main St. You knew who they were, shook their hand, and knew their word was good. Today, with the electronic stuff, it's a whole different marketplace - and you've got to be skeptical about who you're doing business with and what their privacy policy is. Because if you don't, you might be dealing with some guy working out of his living room who's not going to stand behind his product or care what happens with your information.

GlobalPOV: Is it really feasible for people to be able to make an assessment about whether a company is trustworthy to do business with? Is all the necessary information to make that assessment really available?
SH: Well...read the front page of the paper. It's hard to know who to believe these days, but there are certainly some obvious red flags you can pay attention to. At the same time, you still might get stung dealing with a company that you knew and trusted and thought would protect your privacy. Every now and then the attorney general or FTC informs us that a reputable company is doing something really screwy with people's information. It's a scary world out there.

GlobalPOV: Do you think that the legal environment is properly aligned for this? Are the victims being given enough ammo to fight this?
SH: We always need more lawyers who will help the little guy. You've got these David and Goliath cases were the small consumer has gotten ripped off by a huge merchant. We need more laws that make it easier to either get restitution or to prosecute violators of privacy.

GlobalPOV: So it's tough to get restitution in the current environment?
SH: Yes, we could always use better laws, better protection, and more people to enforce it. But the state attorney general and FTC lawyers are actually doing some really good work to combat identity theft and other privacy violations.

GlobalPOV: In the early days of the Internet, it was a popular story that senior citizens were slow to adopt and even slower to make transactions…not trusting the medium. What's their usage like now?
SH: In defiance of the early predictions that they weren't ever going to 'get it,' persons over 50 have been using the Internet extensively - to communicate and to do research. But we also know that sometimes persons over 50 do not have the self-confidence that younger persons do in their willingness to do shopping and banking and financial transactions online. They're cautious and suspicious about what's happening with the information that's creeping out through those wires.

GlobalPOV: Do you think that cautious approach is going to become more mainstream?
SH: I do. I think better awareness of the identity theft problem - and the realization that the scam artists are finding it easier to scam people online - will help people see that they need to be cautious about who they're doing business with and who they're sending information to.

GlobalPOV: What's the common reaction for elderly victims of identity theft?
SH: How do I get out of this? How did this happen to me? It's true disbelief typically - because even the people who truly think they're being cautious can get stung. The other thing that is somewhat mystifying and compounds the astonishment is that it may be six months or a year after the theft that people find out about it. If your purse gets snatched, you instantaneously know that you've been robbed. But if your identity has been stolen, you may not know that it happened until six months later, and that makes it all the more difficult to trace down the trail and find out how it did occur.

GlobalPOV: In the legal system, it's supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. But would you agree that when your identity is stolen, that paradigm is kind of switched around?
SH: Yes, basically. That's one of the things that makes it really difficult…you have to swim your way out of the whirlpool.

GlobalPOV: Older people-on fixed incomes-when they suffer financial losses, is it that much more devastating?
SH: Yes, because it's so much more difficult for them to recoup their losses. If you're living on a fixed income, there isn't any more money when that's gone. We've heard situations of people who've been retired having to go back to work because they were a victim of identity theft or one of the other pernicious scams out there.

For more information on the AARP and identity theft issues, please visit: http://www.aarp.org/money/

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