Digital Death, A True Story

I love the Red Tape Chronicles.  Bob Sullivan sheds light on the problems directly related to living in this technological age.  In his latest post a woman was declared dead by an electronic mistake, and now faces as much (or more) difficulty restoring her credit life as someone who falls victim to identity theft. 

The current dependence on digital identity confirmation – and society’s recent efforts to thwart identity theft – are actually working against her in this case.  Truth be told, it is good that she cannot operate using the social security number of a deceased person.  The system has been designed to prevent that for obvious fraud reasons.  The problem is that she is not dead.  It’s an extraordinary story of being stuck in the proverbial rock vs hard place.

The Red Tape Chronicles Might Avenge You

There is a consumer advocate website that I follow:  The Red Tape Chronicles by Bob Sullivan.  In his words, the site unmasks, “Corporate sneakiness. Government waste. Technology run amok. Outright scams.”  And along the way provides solid consumer information on these same topics.

Mr. Sullivan has a Facebook group, and he announced today that he will be going on a road show, of sorts, to meet with consumers in cities across the US.  [The cooler Northern US, I hastened to add.  I live in Phoenix.]  If you have a story of unfair treatment at the hands of a corporation or program that ought to know better, this is your chance to be heard.  If you are on Facebook, you can find him there.  If not, I have made a pdf of his announced cities.

I appreciate that there are people willing to fight against injustice, stupidity, and greed, and who willingly stand up for those that have been taken advantage.  That kind of determination is extraordinary.