Defining Identity Theft

The authors are involved in a program of research on identity theft in Canada. This paper describes an innovative process that was used to reach agreement on terminology to be used in the research program. Initially, there was little agreement on the use of the terms "identity theft" or "identity fraud" amongst the diverse group of stakeholders involved in the research. We adopted an approach based on the practice of terminology. This approach required the development of a conceptual model of the problem domain that did not use the contested terms. The terms were then defined within the context of this model. This process has brought a common understanding of the problem domain to the various stakeholders and should promote consistent use of the terms in both our research and in communications with the general public.