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International Law

: Open and Shut

Corporate ID theft and government contract disclosures

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With developments here moving in the direction, or already there, of routine on-line publication of information about government contracts, this report in the Chicago Tribune about a scam in which perpetrators stole the identities of companies listed as contractors to the state Auditor, then managed to have $2million deposited into false bank accounts, is of interest.

"This is probably the first major public case of corporate identity theft," said Fordham University law professor Joel Reidenberg, who is also director of the school's Center on Law and Information Policy. "This case could be the tip of the iceberg for corporations," he said. "It's going to be very challenging for policy-makers and for companies to deal effectively with this.".... And corporations looking to avoid similar predicaments will have a harder time making information confidential, since government contracts contain a wealth of information that's required to be public, although exemptions exist for sensitive information like tax identification numbers. "We don't want the state contracting with private parties secretly, so that's got to be public," Reidenberg said. "That's going to be a real challenge."

Any Australian experience?

Full post as published by Open and Shut on May 10, 2009 (boomark / email).