David Fraser links to a MSN Money article on why identity theft is not the problem in Europe that it is in North America. To quote David’s summary:

Security numbers are for Social Security — period.

Information is kept private.

Credit bureaus aren’t wide open.

Credit isn’t king.

The article also notes that the European inclination towards smart cards - an innovation that is inevitably coming to our markets - has also helped with security. Interestingly, one of the reasons smart cards were adopted so readily in Europe was because a comparatively antiquated telecomm system meant that the immediate verification that we get from POS devices that are attached to our modern telecomm network just wasn’t possible in Europe …