Identity theft is a fear felt by many.  Fortunately, there is a plethora of resources on the Internet about how to prevent, and recover from, identity theft.  For this month’s topic, I found the research guide “Identity Theft: An Annotated Bibliography of Federal, State, Consumer and News Resources” from the Law Library Resource Xchange (www.llrx.com) to be an excellent resource.  It is available online at http://www.llrx.com/features/idtheft.htm. 

The Federal Trade Commission has a number of excellent resources:

• Fighting Back Against Identity Theft
• FTC Complaint Assistant
• ID Theft Affidavit
• Identity Theft - Federal Trade Commission

For Washington resources, the place to start is the Washington Office of the Attorney General.  The Identity Theft page includes nine steps to follow if you have been the victim of identity theft. The site also includes information on the Do Not Call Registry, phishing, dumpster diving, and more. 

Many organizations dedicated to privacy issues offer excellent resources online, such as these noted in “Privacy Law”.

• Cyberspace Law: Privacy (FindLaw)
• Identity Theft (U.S. Department of Justice)
• Identity Theft Resources (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse)
• Identity Theft State Statutes (National Conference of State Legislatures)
• State Privacy Laws Regarding Library Records (American Library Association)