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What do you say to federal authorities who brag that they just put an end to the biggest case of identity theft in U.S. history? How about, "What took you so long?"

The press was more generous yesterday, giving glory away in headlines like "Cops Bust Massive ID Theft Ring." That's the sort of coverage the feds must have been seeking when they called a news conference to announce the arrests of three men (two of whom had been taken into custody earlier this year) for a crime that prosecutors eagerly billed as the biggest ID swindle ever.

Served up as the baddest of the bad guys was one Philip Cummings, a former help desk worker for credit clearinghouse TCI. Cummings used stolen passwords from lending institutions such as Ford Motor Credit to order personal financial reports -- 30,000 of them -- which he and an accomplice sold to thieves in the New York area for $60 a pop.

Cummings, who faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, was the focus of reports, which also named two other men arrested by the feds. Curiously, the New York Times and Washington Post had little company in mentioning a fourth conspirator, who apparently lured Cummings into the plot. The Times said it learned of the man from a public source -- the text of yesterday's criminal complaint -- so why did others leave him out? Our guess: He didn't fit with the feds' triumphal spin of the case. After all, in return for his cooperation, authorities are keeping him out of jail and even -- get this -- protecting his identity.

While the media gave the feds their moment, they also took it easy on Cummings' employer, TCI. Again, the Post and Times looked lonely, suggesting that TCI might have done a better job of monitoring the help desk's help-himself guy. Meanwhile, though news of Cummings' arrest may bring TCI some embarrassment, it's also likely to bring more business. For wary consumers who want to keep a close watch on their financial reputations, USA Today and others were full of tips. Step No. 1: Purchase frequent credit reports. - Lori Patel

Arrest Made in Identity Thefts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36996-2002Nov25.html

Feds crack huge identity theft ring
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/11/25/021125hnidtheft.xml

3 Charged in What Authorities Call Biggest Identity Theft Case
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/25/technology/25CND-IDENTITY.html

Cops Bust Massive ID Theft Ring
http://www.wired.com/news/0,1713,,00.html

Parents Abuse Kids' Good Credit (Associated Press)
http://www.wired.com/news/0,1713,,00.html

Federal Prosecutors Break Ring of Identity Thieves
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1038249179137636588,00.html

Ring of identity thieves busted
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/2002-11-25-identity-theft_x.htm

Act now to prevent identity theft
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2002-11-25-id-theft_x.htm

Back in the day, AOL thought content was king and that its proprietary content would keep members loyal and bring new ones in. These days there's not much on AOL that's not also on the Internet, and we're not sure what keeps millions of members coming in and staying in -- chat, ease of use, lethargy? But we're guessing no one would join AOL just to read People Magazine. AOL does need some way to differentiate itself from other, significantly cheaper ISPs, but is shovelware the answer?

That sort of opinion difference must be why we don't work for AOL Time Warner. It seems the company's latest, greatest plan to prop up its lackluster America Online unit is to bring Time Inc.'s magazines -- including People, Sports Illustrated, Time, and Entertainment Weekly -- off the open Web and back inside AOL's walled fortress. (For real early-'90s authenticity, they could take away AOL's Web access, too.) Regular Websurfers craving the swimsuit issue online might still be able to get it for a fee. Of course, they could just as easily buy the magazine. The AP also wondered if readers faced with Time Inc.'s new proprietary status might just read competing publications like Newsweek.com instead of Time.com. Anything might be better than Time Inc.'s first online venture, the all-in-one Web site Pathfinder, dubbed "an expensive disaster" by the Journal.

From a symbolic, post-merger standpoint, the magazine content deal would finally give America Online and Time Warner something to bond over. "For nearly two years, efforts toward collaboration between AOL Time Warner's divisions, entrenched in a culture of fiefdoms, met with resistance," said Reuters. Now everyone's working together to give America Online a boost. So far, all this has come from "people close to the company," but we'll know more on Dec. 3, when AOL executives will detail its new strategy at a meeting. Or maybe we won't. "Eagerly anticipating the latest scoop on America Online?" asked the Dow Jones Newswires. "Chances are you've already heard it." We hope "content is king" wasn't it. - Jen Muehlbauer

America Online, Time Considering Content-Sharing Deal (AP)
http://tinyurl.com/30of

AOL Time Warner Units Collaborate on AOL Recovery (Reuters)
http://www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2002/11/25/rtr805888.html

AOL May Get Content From Time Inc. (Wall Street Journal)
http://www.msnbc.com/news/839453.asp

AOL Readies a New Plan For Content
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-971145.html

No Big Revelations Expected at AOL Meeting Next Week (Dow Jones)
http://smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20021125-000549-1217

Air Strike Chaos Grips France
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2512603.stm

U.S. Bankruptcies Break Record
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38811-2002Nov25.html

HP hires seminal computer thinker
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-975319.html

US launches plan to abolish key tariffs (Financial Times)
http://tinyurl.com/30hn

Fake Twin Towers 'victim' jailed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2513451.stm

CEOs Late 60% of the Time
http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2002-11-25-lateceo_x.htm

SEC Brings a Series of Cases Related to 'Unfair' Disclosure
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1038240686209901828,00.html

Calif. high court limits lawsuits over copied DVDs (Reuters)
http://www.forbes.com/home/newswire/2002/11/25/rtr806250.html

Copyedited by Jim Duffy (jimduffy86@yahoo.com).

Editor and publisher: Jimmy Guterman (guterman@vineyard.com).

Media Unspun is produced by The Vineyard Group Inc.
Copyright 2002 Media Unspun, Inc., and The Vineyard Group, Inc.
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