I received my letter yesterday–the one from the Secretary ofVeteran Affairs telling me "information identifiable with me waspotentially exposed to others." This information included names,Social Security numbers, date of birth, and who knows what else.Considering the size of the folder that was handed to me when Ileft active military duty, I suspect there actually was a lot moreinformation compromised than the government currently is willing toadmit. It probably is a little overkill for me, though. If all youwant is my date of birth and Social, you don't need to devise asophisticated plot–just raid my locker when I am taking a shower atthe Y. My driver's license has that information plainly displayedon it.

ChoicePoint, MasterCard, your local bank, the VeteransAdministration–whatever, wherever–personal data constantly is beingstolen and perhaps misused. We tend to treat this as a problem ofthe information age. Ubiquitous computers, the Internet, globalcorporate networks, lax computer security, and gigabytes of data"out there" on each and every one of us supposedly have created anenvironment in which identity theft and electronic fraud arefostered. I contend the information age has nothing to do with theproblem. The real problem is Western society has degenerated into acommunity where individuals and corporations will go to any meansto ensure they come out on top. Greed has become the primarymotivation for the 21st century worker. Let's define greed as thedesire to acquire or possess more than one needs or deserves. Greedor avarice is not a new phenomenon–it was identified by the RomanCatholics as one of the seven deadly sins about seven centuriesago–yet it has become the defining quality of the post-modernsociety. The reality of a zero-sum economy is the most fortunatespend an inordinate amount of time and effort to ensure the lessfortunate stay that way. There are now about 2.8 billion people wholive on less than two dollars a day–and that in a world populationof about 6.5 billion. Our problems go beyond greed, though. It isan entire mindset that compels people to get ahead at any cost.

The university I attended as an undergraduate had an honorsystem. That honor system was based upon the premise a "gentleman"does not lie, cheat, or steal. We routinely were given unproctoredtests or even take-home exams with instructions such as: "Use onlyan hour to take the exam, and use no additional material forassistance." There were no locks on dormitory rooms. You couldleave money sitting on your desk with the assurance it would bethere weeks later. Lying was unthinkable. There were lots of sidebenefits, e.g., merchants would accept your out-of-state check withonly your student ID as assurance. The system worked. It workedbecause we honestly and truly believed being honorable was adesirable quality. The concept of cheating on an exam to gain anunfair advantage over other students was totally unthinkable. Thehonor system itself was entirely student run.

I remember a student being dismissed from the university becauseof plagiarism–a freshman paper contained a paragraph that appearedto have been lifted from a Time magazine article. Compare that withthe case of Harvard sophomore Kaavya Viswanathan whose novel HowOpal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life apparently has manypassages shamelessly lifted from two novels by Megan McCafferty. Orcompare the honor system I experienced as an undergraduate with thewatered-down honor code that exists today. In fact, it exists inname only. Students' "rights" must be preserved–mere felony theftfrom a retail establishment is not appropriate reason for dismissalfrom the university. Widespread cheating scandals have beenuncovered. Students of the 21st century apparently seem unable tobelieve in and abide by an honor code.

Perhaps the idea of an honor code really is an anachronism,though not as anachronistic as former Secretary of State Henry L.Stimson's remark, "Gentlemen don't read each other's mail"–this waswhen he was shutting down the State Department's cryptanalysisoffice. But wasn't honor ever in fashion? I seem to recall a timewhen a criminal would be captured, and the reaction would be "OK,boys . . . you finally got me." In a post-O.J. Simpson world, thefelon's first reaction is, "I didn't do it."

Criminals caught on videotape are alleged criminals. Let medigress just a bit. Because of something I am involved in, I get toknow a lot of convicted felons really well. The vast majority ofthem claim they are imprisoned on a "bum rap." Interestingly, ifyou carry the conversation to the next logical step with a questionsuch as "So, you didn't commit the crime for which you areincarcerated, but did you commit other similar crimes?" the answeris invariably yes! Doing the crime isn't the issue. Getting caughtis.

These crimes all are related, but let's return specifically toidentify theft and credit-card fraud. The reason credit-card fraudis so easy to accomplish is greed is motivating all involvedparties. A few years ago, my wife and I drove to a popular urbanbike trail, unracked our bikes, and took off. A few hours later, wereturned to find a car window smashed and my wife's purse andwallet missing.

A quick call to our credit-card companies revealed one cardalready had been hit for some $20,000 worth of goodies. I spentsome time working with police and the credit-card security peopleand discovered the following: A group of people took the card to adepartment store where they made major purchases, including a dozenexpensive television sets. The first time through, the purchaseamount was rejected as they exceeded the credit limit on the card.This was before the days of truly outrageous limits. So, they tooka television set back, but they still were over the limit. So, theytook another back, continuing until they were able to drop justunder the spending limit on the card. The store did not even askfor identification. It was so greedy for that very large sale, itwas not about to question the propriety or the legality of thetransaction.

The computer system at the credit-card issuer should also havethrown up a flag when the same card was rejected for over-limittime and time again. But the premise of consumer credit is to allowusers to max out their credit limits, then collect minimum paymentsat a usurious rate of interest for the next 20 years. The desire tomaximize profits–greed–for all the parties involved in thistransaction allowed this to happen. As a footnote, I should reportthe department store was forced to eat the damage on thattransaction. In most cases, the credit-card bank takes the loss itthen passes on to consumers. You can sustain a lot of loss when youare collecting interest at a 28 percent APR.

That was a few years ago. We are much more cautious today,right? I don't think so. Last week I finally decided to leap intothe future. My 20-year-old 19-inch Magnavox and bargain basementcomponents had become such an embarrassment my children refused towatch television at our house. So, my wife and I ventured to one ofthe tech superstores and did a 20-year upgrade to a largeflat-screen HD television with a state-of-the-art component system.As I was muttering something about this television costing morethan many of the cars I have purchased, my wife handed over acredit card for an account in her name only. I ended up signing thecard approval slip. We have different last names, so I don't knowabout the validity of that, but I do know we never were asked forany identification. Once again–greed–there was no way thatsalesperson was going to jeopardize the sale by asking embarrassingquestions such as "Why don't the name on the slip and the cardmatch?"

Why is it so easy to defraud people on the Internet? Becausethey are greedy. They want to get something for nothing. Asludicrous as it sounds, the "I am the ex-finance minister ofLiberia" scams actually work. These things wouldn't continue to beperpetrated if they didn't work. Just like any other businessperson, "ex-finance ministers" need a positive ROI or they findanother way to make money. Internet scam artists use the sametricks that have been used for years. The premise is I am going togive you something, generally money, which you are not entitled toor which you haven't earned, but first I need to trust you, so youmust give me some money in return to prove your trust. I worked ata bank back in the mainframe, batch-processing days. Our tellersalways were on the alert for elderly customers withdrawing largesums of cash (we considered $500 a large sum in those days). Theywould pointedly ask them, "Why do you want this money?" We wouldget regular briefings from the FBI about the various scams thatwould be being worked in our geographic region. And we actuallycaught some hucksters attempting to defraud our customers.

Insurance fraud is common–probably even more common than weknow. In California, there may be large organized gangs causingrear-end-collision automobile accidents solely to generate falsemedical claims. And if it works on a large scale in Los Angeles,you can be sure it is working on a smaller scale in Indianapolisand an even lesser scale in Smallville.

Western civilization has undergone a radical transformation inthe half century or so since World War II. Egocentricity and greeddefine modern man. We see it everywhere we turn: on our highways,in schools, in sports, everywhere. Cheating has become the acceptednorm. I, for one, am pleasantly amazed when people actually queueup instead of forcing their way to the front. The watchword hasbecome rules apply to everyone but me and mine. If I want to carrythree bags onto my flight, two of which will not fit under my seat,I will do it anyway. Moreover, because I am a special passenger andwill board before everyone else, I will take your space in theoverhead bin before you even get there. Never mind that I attainedmy special flight status by booking unnecessary multileg flights myemployer must pay for. Integrity? What does that mean? The wholeconcept of a gentleman or a lady is, in fact, ludicrouslyanachronistic. Why do we continue to be surprised by Internet fraudand identity theft? Are they really unusual or unexpectedbehaviors?

I remember a COBOL course I took a few years ago. The instructoralso was a full-time programmer for a Fortune 25 company. He oftenwould talk about how "moral" his company was–how it did things theright way. He explained how that company would build in checks andbalances to the accounting systems to make certain vendors werepaid properly and on time. It was a matter of pride this firm paidits bills on time and took only earned discounts. That companystill exists and still is a Fortune 25 company. I wonder whether itstill is bound by those high standards? I hope so.

week.