Identity Theft — O.K. If You’re A Cop

This is too much — Bruce Schneier posted a story about an Ohio sting operation that had a female intern with the U.S. Marshals using a fake I.D. during the bust. Problem is, it wasn’t a fake I.D. — it was someone else’s.

Here’s a snip from Bruce’s post on the matter:

“In an Ohio sting operation at a strip bar, a 22-year-old student intern with the United States Marshals Service was given a fake identity so she could work undercover at the club. But instead of giving her a fabricated identity, the police gave her the identity of another woman living in another Ohio city. And they didn’t tell the other woman. Oddly enough, this is legal. According to Ohio’s identity theft law, the police are allowed to do it. Identity theft cannot be prosecuted if: “The person or entity using the personal identifying information is a law enforcement agency, authorized fraud personnel, or a representative of or attorney for a law enforcement agency or authorized fraud personnel and is using the personal identifying information in a bona fide investigation, an information security evaluation, a pretext calling evaluation, or a similar matter.”