[Wikipedia-l] Where ends the responsibility of Wikipedia? (personal information of people)

Sun Jan 29 20:10:19 UTC 2006

On 1/29/06, Fred Bauder <fredbaud at ctelco.net> wrote:
> It is not that your identity so far as the state or federal
> government is stolen. Identity theft refers to someone gaining
> sufficient access to your personal information that it is possible to
> access your credit card accounts and bank accounts or create new
> ones. What they are stealing is your credit rating. They can then run
> up a big bill and leave you with it; the banks and credit companies
> may forgive the debt, but straightening your credit rating will be
> difficult and time consuming, or expensive (if you hire it done).
>

Can someone really "run up a big bill and leave you with it"?  I
thought your authorization was needed in order to enter into a loan.

IOW, I thought that while the credit reporting agencies might report
the outstanding loan, no court would actually attempt to enforce such
a loan.

Straightening out your credit rating can occassionally be difficult,
but the vast majority of the time it's actually quite straightforward.
 Actually getting a bank to "forgive" a debt on the other hand...

Anthony