Identity theft? Let us count the ways

Re “College Door Ajar for Online Criminals,” May 30

Your story describes the increasing criminal activity of hacking as it affects universities. The piece mentions an 18-year-old convicted of breaking into a dozen systems at San Diego State. His sentence was three years’ probation and an order to pay the school $20,000 restitution. The punishment is simply not sufficient for the crime, and that seems fairly typical in these cases. Apparently they are regarded with sort of a boys-will-be-boys attitude and let off with sentences that bear little relationship to the stress, frustration, loss of time and money that they can cause.

What hackers don’t seem to realize or care about is that the continuing increase of this practice will jeopardize the very system that allows them to indulge themselves. Isn’t it time to stop treating hacking as a childish prank instead of the serious crime it is and start handing out serious penalties?

ROSS BARRETT

Los Angeles

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When I was a student at Cal State Northridge a few years ago, I was assigned a unique ID number and a unique personal identification number, yet every time I requested any university paperwork or registered for any classes, I was forced to write my Social Security number along with the other two numbers. What was the point of the student ID and PIN? When I complained about this obviously dangerous system that made every student highly vulnerable to ID theft, I was told if I did not provide my Social Security number, I would get no services. Without services, I’d have to drop out of school.

LICIA C. PASKAY

Marina del Rey