| Sumario: | This article was written to expose the threat of identity theft that accompanies anonymous Internet access to databases of professional information for licensed speech-language pathologists and/or audiologists and to recommend some guidelines that can help to prevent professional identity theft in the future. In order to examine the risk for theft, each state's individual licensing division was visited electronically and was examined for the type of access provided, list form or verification search, and the type of information provided, including name, license number, and other variables. Results from this search indicated that 42 states permit Internet access to their databases of licensed professionals. Nine of these states provide the information in list form directly on the site; the remaining 34 states use a verification search program for access to the database. Information provided ranges from name and license number to gender, birth date, and phone number. To minimize the risk of theft, we recommend that Internet access to licensed professionals' information be allowed only through full name or license number search. We also recommend that the information provided through the search be standardized across states and monitored by The National Council of State Board of Examiners for Speech Language Pathology and Audiology.
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