Actually the causal link in all but the last case I sited is part of the public record. The identity thief admitted he had easily gathered the information from the counties online public records. I suppose he thought this might offer some defense since the records were public.

Rebecca Shaefers address was also taken from the public records offered in digital form to anyone with a subscription. Her stalker had paid someone with a subscription who treated the information as a commodity. California rethought their policy after this incident and declared the records in question as confidential thereby removing them from digital inspection.

If you view the public record as a commodity then I am sure you won't mind if I make use of this new commodity to gather your Social Security number, date of birth, home address, names of your relatives and neighbors, and details about your personal life for value added worldwide publication over the internet. Would you link my publishing your information over the internet to the attack that your wife or children might suffer, or to the theft of your own identity that would likely result? Would you find your causal link if it was you who suffered?

By the way, the personal dossier on you that contains all of the above has already been compiled on you from the public record and is available to anyone anywhere in the world. It was compiled by another company who exploits this new commodity and offers their "value added" product to anyone with $7.95 for  Name, Age, Birth Date, Address & Phone #, Avg. Income & Avg. Home Price. If someone needs more information on you like  Legal Judgments- Bankruptcies - Property Ownership - Liens - 30 Year Address History - Relative, Roommate, & Neighbor Information it will only cost them $49.95. Just in case you were thinking of moving or changing your name you can be followed by the public record you will be creating for only $49.95. Right now they are running a special, 10% off.

See what happens when the private records of American citizens are treated as a commodity when released in bulk digital form? And to think, Rebecca Shaefer's stalker had to pay $200 for the address he needed to stalk and kill her. Today he could get even more personal information for less than the price of a good meal.