I had my figures all wrong in my previous post.. Instead of editing it, I thought it appropriate to issue an erratum and convey the necessary apologies.

The first 9 months of 2005 saw  an increase  of people exposed to ID theft of 80%, to between 8 or 9 million (that's the conservative extrapolation) and not, as I stated , 80 million.  Obviously not 1/3 of the active population. I shouldn't have relied on memory even if it is usually quite faithful.

The figure is for the US only and it is true that the potential victims are not always informed or sufficiently informed  of the facts by the governmental or non-governmental  organizations involved. Having gone through this I can vouch for that.

The total number of victims or potential victims over the last decade is unknown, but we can speculate.  I still think that this number is outrageous and that it points to a crisis.

So I'm truly sorry for my mistake. I did not intend to mislead. I offer my most sincere apologies.  If allowed a fig leaf I'll blame it on the pneumonia I've been struggling with for the past few weeks. Maybe that'll shame it out of the lungs...
:)
Q

Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hazard
S Mallarmé