Information & Ethics committee  One of the points we made is that we need a much clearer idea of what the underlying problems and causes are for identity theft. One of the things we know is that there is a great deal of concern that the social insurance number can be used for identity theft. If we had more information about what's actually causing identity theft, then we'd have a much clearer idea of the extent to which problems with the SIN contribute to it.

Information & Ethics committee  As the commissioner suggested, I think partly it's fed by the media in the U.K., but there are many examples of people in either telephone companies or financial institutions being paid to disclose information that is then sent in to the media to highlight the social life or the private life of celebrities, and it's a very lucrative trade.