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