tity theft, the most prominent
of which involve efforts to
encourage citizens to alter their
regular routines to reduce their
risk of victimization. These
measures can be understood
as encouraging a care of the
virtual self—a wider social project that encourages people to
reduce the risks and maximize
the potentialities related to
their data double. In the context
of identity theft, however, institutionally promoted methods
for virtual self-care transcend
what is reasonably practicable
for most citizens and mask the
role played by major institutions
in fostering the preconditions
for identity theft.
Institutional advice on iden-
tity theft offers a dizzying array
of tips on how citizens can avoid
victimization. These tips range
from limiting the information
one carries and using secure
passwords, to closely analyzing
bank and credit card statements
and ordering credit reports
every six months, to keeping
all personal information in a
safe (ideally locked) location
and locking one’s mailbox. Tips
telling citizens to avoid shopping online and to avoid giving
out personal information on
insecure phone or Internet lines
often stray on the side of paranoia. The most common tip is to
shred everything from receipts
to bank statements, to magazine address labels. In order
to manage the risk of identity
theft, citizens are encouraged
to buy an abundance of anti-crime products that have been
rebranded to capitalize on the
identity theft buzz. Alongside
the shredder, other devices
sold to thwart identity theft
include computer locks, safes,
firewalls, and encryption software, as well as new services
such as identity theft insurance.
Marketed by credit card companies as a benefit to potential
victims, such services also offer
businesses some hope of reducing costs related to identity
theft and generate a new revenue stream.
Many of the recommended
risk avoidance measures involve
forms of “responsibilization,” a
process of encouraging individuals to become more involved in
managing the risks they face.
Under pressure to streamline
their services, governments
increasingly encourage individuals and the private sector
to shoulder more responsibility
