Environmental Impact On The Environmental Crisis - 1675 Words

1.1.3 Ecological Design: The evident response to the environmental crisis One natural response to the current crisis and the shift in designers’ discourse has been the engagement in Ecological Design, or Eco-design, described by Orr (2002) as a large concept that joins science and the practical arts with ethics, politics, and economics that, requires â€Å"not just a set of generic design skills but rather the collective intelligence of a community of people applied to particular problems in a particular place over a long period of time† (p.9). This endeavor, according to the author, is nothing less than the effort to harmonize the human enterprise with how the world works as a physical system and how it ought to work as a moral system. Eco-design has been useful in urban planning, industrial parks and networks, architecture, and products, especially technology, in which the concept has been extensively applied to the development and manufacturing. Within this context, it is recognized as a to reduce the impacts associated with the production and consumption of products. It can be said that in the past centuries the human footprint on earth has multiplied many times over, especially after Industrialization, but now, our science and technology are powerful beyond anything imagined to overcome this malefic impact and yet, keep progressing. Although our technical abilities are up-to-date, our moral and ethical senses have not kept pace with them. And this is why this identifiedShow MoreRelatedWhole Foods Market Is Responsible For Protection Of Human Health And The Environment1413 Words   |  6 PagesAdministration (FDA) and paid $3.5 million fine to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June and September of 2016. FDA is responsible for regulating food, dietary supplements, drugs, biological medical products etc. EPA is responsible for protection of human health and the environment. EPA   Federal regulators warned Whole Foods as they failed to manufacture, pack, and store foods in a way that reduce potential for contamination. The US Environmenta l Protection Agency also saw Whole Foods improperlyRead MoreThe Fragile Ecological Existence Of The U.s. Southwest1250 Words   |  5 Pagesis largely in support for saving the environment. However support can be splintered by another need of the country especially when the opposing discourse has a crisis wave to ride. This case shows how the issue of border security is able to triumph environmental needs, due to the pertinence of immigration reform and the effects of crisis on policy. Introduction: The border of the United States and Mexico, is not our longest border, but is arguably our most controversial. Much of the land on theRead MoreEssay On The Quality Of Water1312 Words   |  6 Pagessupply switch. Flint residents disbelieved the city was going to use the Flint River, which once served as a dumping ground for industrial waste from the local General Motors plant (Caton, 2016). Based on comments from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Flint officials did not immediately implement corrosion treatments for the river water (Kennedy, 2016). In May of 2014, residents reported water quality issues and the city issued a boil advisory after E. coli and total coliformRead MoreThe Climate Crisis And Its Effects On The Environment1428 Words   |  6 PagesThe climate crisis is a defining struggle of our age bringing political, economic, religious, and environmental tensions and conflicts to surface. At this moment in history a great transitional worldview needs to take place, but is depressingly out of reach, and humankind seems woefully unprepared/interested to confront monumental challenges and change. The climate change crisis directly affects planetary boundaries, ecological cycles, and limitations on a domestic and international level. It isRead MoreThe Environmental Crisis Of Kenya And The United Nations Framework On Environmental Change1453 Words   |  6 Pages The environmental crisis is the biggest crisis of our time, climate change, scarcity of fresh water and bio diversity loss are just a few o f the problems caused by the environmental crisis. National and international organizations try combat the dire effects of the environmental crisis like The Green Belt Movement in Kenya and The United Nations framework on Environmental Change, they create initiatives like sustainable development but they have not succeeded. My essay will introduceRead MoreGlobal Warming : A Environmentally Friendly Community And Start A Global Movement1726 Words   |  7 Pagescharge of the environmental crisis. Gore states that â€Å"what we are doing is functionally insane†, and he is absolutely right. (Gore) For too long people have been afraid to come terms with the environmental disaster they have helped create; but we’ve spent so much time in denial that we are running out of time to take action. Gore describes five steps that he believes will save the environment. The first step suggested is to become totally committed to solving the environmental crisis and advocateRead MoreEn vironmental Psychology Article Analysis866 Words   |  4 PagesEnvironmental Psychology Article Analysis University of Phoenix Environmental Psychology Article Analysis Environmental psychology does not just study how man affects his environment but also how the environment and natural occurrences affect man. The continual cause and affect cycle from both sides of the equation give purpose to environmental psychology as well as incorporating other disciplines. Unlike many disciplines that have a single focus, the focus of environmental psychologyRead MorePope By John Pope : A Critical Approach Between Science And Religion880 Words   |  4 Pagespolicy. From the first chapter the Pope assumes the latest scientific findings on environmental matters as a way to hear the cry of creation, to become personal suffering what happens to the world, and thus recognize what is the contribution that each can contribute . Various aspects of the current ecological crisis is so rush. The Pope speaks of austerity of life saving measure of the great crisis which we live. We speak of an ecological debt: in the framework of an ethic of internationalRead MoreSCI207 WEEK 2 QUIZ Essay889 Words   |  4 Pages Question : 1 Which of the following is an environmental concern of genetically engineered crops mentioned in your text? Genetically modified crops lead to larger applications of toxic herbicides and insecticides. The genetic modification of crops increases soil erosion while decreasing soil fertility. Genetic engineering is less precise than traditional methods of crossbreeding. CORRECT Genes from genetically modified crops may transfer to non-genetically modifiedRead MoreThe Rise Of Solar Stadiums1292 Words   |  6 PagesThe Rise of Solar Stadiums: Assessing the Motives and Environmental Impact Super Bowl XLVIII. February 2nd, 2014. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As time expires, Mason Crosby kicks a field goal that soars through the uprights and hits . . . a wind turbine? Suddenly, this scenario does not sound so far-fetched: the Philadelphia Eagles have announced their intention to convert Lincoln Financial Field into the â€Å"world’s greenest stadium† (Bauers). As part of the initiative, the Eagles plan to take

The Organizational Culture Of The Work Center - 1647 Words

Introduction There will always be issues in a person’s place of employment. Everyone would love to work in an environment where everyone got along, where everyone knew what his or her roles were and stayed in their lane. Most of all people enjoy working in an atmosphere where the managers provide a sense of pride and welcome to all employees. The attitude of the staff is usually a direct reflection of the person in charge. If the top person seems never to be happy or is a strict micromanager then the attitude of the work center is going to reflect negatively to this. If the manager is viewed as having a low work ethic or uncaring about the job, employees will soon develop that same low work ethic or begin to not care about the production of the work center, this is called the organizational culture of the work area. Nahavandi, Denhardt, Denhardt, define organizational culture as â€Å"the set of values, norms, and beliefs shared by members of an organization† (2014 , p. 39). Most people believe that those of us in the military do not face the same issues that our civilian counterparts encounter. Everyone knows that service members live by a creed of integrity and strive for excellence in all we set forth to do. However, just as one would find in the civilian sector the organizational culture in the military also has its time where managers or leaders do not present the best image for others to follow. The military has issues, with favoritism, racism, and sexism just asShow MoreRelatedORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE1123 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE Culture consists of beliefs and behavior. It is cultivated behavior in the sense that it is learnt from the other members of the society. According to Henry Mintzberg, an internationally renowned author on Business and Management, â€Å"culture is the soul of the organization – the beliefs and values, and how they are manifested. I think of the structure as the skeleton, and as the flesh and blood. And culture is the soul that holds the thing together and gives it life forceRead MoreComputime1008 Words   |  5 Pagescommunicate effectively with the RD units. To improve communication channels, Computime can use Frans Johnansson’s concept of making barriers fall, by embracing a range of cultures (2004). Computime can hire engineers who are familiar with the Chinese culture and have experience with Chinese workers. By hiring people who know best how to work with the Chinese, communication can improve. Through improved communication, employees will be able to share ideas about customers’ needs and further anticipate futureRead MoreA Market Plan for People with Disabilities828 Words   |  3 PagesSituation Analysis Over the past years career centers have matched people with jobs to synchronize their career plans with their disabilities. The career center will consist of self-appraisal, career information, career counseling services, career training facilities, and career placement follow up services. The center will reach this by setting in motion of cyclical process of planning, development, implementation, and improvement. With the help of the center the disabled will be able to reach theirRead MoreCase Study : Northern County Legal Services1087 Words   |  5 PagesNorthern County Legal Services It is a late summer morning and without air conditioning the environment at the not-for-profit law center, Northern County Legal Services (NCLS), is reminiscent of an overcrowded Department of Motor Vehicle office. The center does not have a variety of comfortable places to sit as chairs were donated or purchased. 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In a morphing society management is exposed to issues never faced before such as: â€Å"organizational cost pressures and restructuring; economics and job changes; globalization of organizations and HR; workforce demographics and diversity, HR technology; and measuring HR impact throu gh metrics† (Mathis, pg. 8). Due to all the previous mentionedRead MoreStructure and the Differences in Culture of Various Organizations766 Words   |  3 PagesWorking Girl: A Case Study in Organizational Structure There isnt any room at the top for local girls like us, yet the upper level management had the world at their fingertips (Nichols, 1988). Mike Nichols quirky 1988 film Working Girl was in many ways much more than a romantic comedy. It reflects the extreme separation between the levels of the hierarchy within a typical organizational culture in the United States in the 1980s. 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As noted in the readings, many definitions exist, however for the scope of this paper I will take the lead of Kuh and Whitt. Defining organizational culture as the â€Å"collective, mutually shaping patterns of norms, values, practices, beliefs, and assumptions that guide the behavior of individuals and groups in an institute of higher education and provide a frame of reference

Business Report Free Essays

As a world-leading cosmetic company of Australia and established in 1985, Jurlique has expanded its customers at a staggering rate recently. I have used its products for many years and am one of its loyal customers. Although Jurlique has conducted its businesses beyond Australia and gradually penetrated into many other countries, it neglects an imperative country that can contribute to boost its sales and profits significantly, namely China. We will write a custom essay sample on Business Report or any similar topic only for you Order Now Because Jurlique has not entered into Chinese market, every time I come back to China, my relatives and friends always will ask me to bring them its products. Therefore, I am thinking whether Jurlique can expand its businesses into Chinese market so that its loyal customers can purchase its products conveniently and easily. It is widely know that the most unique quality of Jurlique is its natural elements in products. Almost all the other cosmetic products contain various chemical compositions that may potentially have subtle negative influence on customers. However, Jurlique plants raw materials that its products need on its own and provides pure and natural materials for its products, so that these products are environmental friendly. Due to such unique character, Jurlique gradually attracts more and more loyal customers. Thus, for Jurlique, operating its businesses in China becomes increasingly necessary. With Chinese cheap labour, Jurlique can establish factory in China to manufacture its products. And with the assistance of excellent marketing strategies, there is no doubt that Jurlique can achieve huge success in Chinese market. Executive Summary Jurlique can select China to be its target country. As an emerging country, China has the highest GDP growth around the world. This situation means that there are numerous opportunities for various companies to conduct their businesses in this emerging market. Hence, Jurlique can profit from these numerous opportunities by operating its businesses there. Furthermore, owning the largest population around the world, there is no denying that China has significant potential for digesting the products of Jurlique. To be more specific, Chinese people are more affluent than before. It is universally acknowledged that during the economic crisis period, Chinese people contribute the most to continue flourishing luxury industry. And Chinese women lay more emphasis on their faces than before, thereby providing enormous opportunity for cosmetic industry. Consequently, China is an extremely appropriate choice for Jurlique to expand its business. Because Jurlique is a famous brand around the world and and belongs to high-end products. Therefore, it mainly targets its customers in China at affluent people. Although affluent people only account for small part of the whole Chinese people, due to the large population base, there are still a large number of Chinese people to spend money on its products. Jurlique can distribute its products in China mainly through two ways. The first one is online sales. The prevalent online shopping phenomenon in China can help Jurlique reach the most potential customer. The other one is set up counters in shopping malls, which is the most frequent places people go to buy cosmetics. Campaign Strategy It has been mentioned that the main potential customers of Jurlique are affluent women. And those women generally live in such big cities as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and so on. Therefore, Jurlique can start its business from the Chinese fashion city, namely Shanghai. It is widely known that Shanghai women usually spend more time and money than others on makeup. And then this company can gradually penetrate its business into other cities and take full advantages of Chinese market to expand its businesses, thereby achieving high profits. Undeniably, the giant influence of advertisement can not be ignored and therefore the first step of starting Jurlique’s business should be effective advertising. Firstly, appropriate slogan should be made. Because the unique quality of Jurlique is its natural and pure raw material and the main function of its products is make women be beautiful and charming, the brand slogan can be â€Å"for your natural beauty†. As to advertisement, Chinese people should be its models in order to show people directly that products of Jurlique can beautify not only western people but also eastern people. In order to boost its sales effectively and smoothly, Jurlique should conduct some promotions in accordance with local culture. And the most effective promotional method should be advertising (Gabriel, Kottasz, Bennett, 2006). There are a host of ways can be used for advertising. The most effective one is TV advertising. To be more precise, there are numerous fashion programs on TV now and they attract a vast number of fashion people to be their audience. More importantly, some TV stations even specially set up a fashion channel to broadcast fashion related programs. As a consequence, by advertising on these channels, Jurlique can effectively and efficiently cover its target customers as many as possible. Additionally, Jurlique also can advertise on fashion magazines. These magazines have the same target customers as Jurlique and therefore can effectively and efficiently deliver its information to customers. Another advertising way is billboards. They generally should be established in subway station (Low, Mohr, 2000), because in China, the majority of white-collars who can be potential customers of Jurlique are prone to take subway when getting off work. During the time of waiting for trains, people usually have nothing to do. If there are some gorgeous billboards in front of them, they are inclined to staring at these billboards to appreciate their fabulous content. And them, these people may be motivated in large distance to buy the advertised products. In order to make Jurlique operate smoothly in China, this company also should consider the timeline and costs of its expansion. As to timeline, Jurlique can start its business from Shanghai. About several months later, its business can be expanded to Beijing, and then other big cities. Turning to cost, it is one of the most crucial parts for company, because it relates to its profits. For cosmetic business, advertisements usually occupy the most costs, because gorgeous and luxury advertising contents can contribute to consolidate its high-end position and the high price can offset increased cost in advertisement (Mitchel, 1985). As a result, Jurlique can allocate more money on advertising costs than other aspects. How to cite Business Report, Papers

Personal Security free essay sample

The Importance of Safe Guarding Personal Information Identity theft is a serious problem worldwide. This crime flourishes when thieves are given access to your personal information, allowing them to commit crimes under your name or spend your money unbeknownst to you. You may be under the impression that identity theft could never happen to you. You may be careful with whom you give your Social Security number to, or diligent about changing up your passwords for the sake of safety. However, identity thieves are getting smarter about how they access your information. The statistics revolving around identity theft are disconcerting, but with a better understanding of how these crimes continue to be committed, we can help lower the rate of identity theft and prevent ourselves from becoming another statistic. 1. Odds Against You The United States Department of Justice states that in 2010, 7% of all United States households had at least one member of the family at or over the age of 12 who has been a victim of some sort of identity theft. That means the odds are greatly against you. Identity theft sets the government, American citizens, and businesses back by billions of dollars each year. From 2005 to 2010, 64. 1% of these instances involved credit card fraud, the fastest growing type of identity theft. Over the range of this time period, credit card misuse was doubled as the determining factor in identity theft. 2. Grave Robbing According to Time Magazine, 2. 5 million dead people get their identities stolen every year. Studies conducted by ID Analytics have shown that identity thieves have been applying for credit cards under the names of the deceased, opening up clean credit lines, new cell phone services, and in a staggering 1. million cases, using Social Security numbers previously belonging to dead people. This can be devastating for family members of the deceased who have been left to manage his or her estate. More than 2,000 identities of corpses per day are assumed by these fraudsters. 3. Social Media Fraud With a 13% increase in identity fraud between 2010 and 2011, a study conducted by Javelin Strategy amp; Research showed that consumers may be putting them selves at a higher risk for identity theft as a result of their increasingly intimate social media behaviors. Sixty-eight percent of people with public social media profiles on platforms such as Facebook or Twitter shared their birthday information with 45% of them getting into specifics about the exact month, day, and year. Sixty-three percent shared where exactly they attended high school. Eighteen percent shared their phone number and 12% shared their pet’s name. Not only are all of these details typically asked when verifying an identity, but people also frequently use them in passwords. The statistics are clear — people are giving away far too much personal information on social networking sites, allowing for fraudsters to easily steal their identities. 4. Medical Identity Theft According to the findings from a study conducted by the Federal Trade Commission, 19,428 complaints regarding medical identity theft have been reported to the Consumer Sentinel Database since January 1, 1992. Prior to that, medical-related identity theft was not documented, so there may have been many more instances of it that simply went unreported. Likewise, the number of medical identity theft victims rose from 1. % in 2001 to 1. 8% in 2005. Medical identity theft can be distressing to its victims, who often incur charges for medical care they didn’t even receive after their computerized medical records are stolen. A large chunk of these victims experienced raised premiums as a result of medical identity theft, with almost half losing coverage entirely. Medical identity thef t is more of an insider crime, as it is typically done by a health care professional. It may be committed by doctors, nurses, lab technicians, and others associated with the hospital. Part of the reason that medical identity theft is made possible could be because almost half of seniors carry their Social Security card or Medicare card in their wallets, which is a risky place to keep such valuable information. 5. College Students at Risk The United States Department of Education encourages college-aged students to be particularly aware of identity theft. After they conducted a recent survey, the Department of Education found that 48% of the students that participated in the survey admitted to leaving personal information out in their dorm rooms, some of which was financial in nature. Thirty-one percent of these students were burglarized or knew someone in the building who was burglarized, which means that their personal information could have been compromised. Identity thieves look to college-aged adults because they often have good, clean credit scores, making them an ideal target. On college campuses, Social Security numbers are often used for identification purposes. For example, a student may use their social to register for classes. With such easy access to your Social Security number, an identity thief has all the information they need to commit their crime. Lastly, college students are not as attentive to their banking accounts and private information, which buys the identity thief valuable time with your funds at hand. 6. Misleading Trial Offers The Consumer Federation of America works with commercial providers of identity theft services to figure out ways to keep people safe from identity theft. According to a 2012 report it released examining ways these services could be bettered, customers most commonly complained about the service’s lack of addressing misleading trial offers. Free trials are everywhere, offering a week or months’ worth of Weight Watchers, Netflix, or Proactiv face wash. However, customers complained that the identity theft protection sites themselves were unclear as to the trial offer stipulations. The problematic part is that customers often forget to cancel these temporarily â€Å"free† subscriptions, or they don’t realize they need to cancel, and then charges begin to accrue in their accounts from a service they may not even use. Customers feel this may as well be on par with the stealing that occurs via identity theft. So, even sites that help protect against identity theft may be draining your funds via an unclear trial offer scheme. 7. Cost to Victims According to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2006 Report, while 50% of all identity fraud victims accrue little to no out-of-pocket charges for the legal fees, lost wages, and false payments brought upon them during the fraud, a small bracket of 10% of all identity theft victims incur considerable out-of-pocket expenses. This can be upwards of $1,200. This is most commonly the case when fraudsters use a false identity to open new accounts. The top percentile of these victims lost as many as $3,000, an unsettling amount to personally lose as a result of identity theft. Few things leave a person feeling more vulnerable and taken advantage of. Likewise, resolving identity theft crime isn’t easy. Ten percent of all victims spend 55 or more hours sorting out their problems, while the top 5% spend at least 130 hours. 8. Child Identity Theft Since children have perfectly clean backgrounds, no real credit score to speak of, and their parents don’t think to monitor the status of their identity, they make easy targets for identity theft. The main reasons fraudsters use child identities is to administer illegal immigration, steal, and wipe clean the credit scores of a loved one by utilizing that of a child in their place. Sadly, this can have negative effects on the child’s credit down the line, and they could have trouble securing student loans, getting a decent job, or even purchasing a cellphone. In a study conducted by Carnegie Melon’s CyLab, 10. 2% of the children reported that someone else had used their Social Security number fraudulently. The worst of these accounts was toward a 16-year-old girl who had reported fraudulent charges of $725,000 under her name. 9. Police Notification According to the Consumer Sentinel Network’s 2011 report, 57% of identity theft victims notified a police department, resulting in a police report. Six percent notified a police department, but did not have a police report filed, and 7% notified the police but were unsure as to whether a report was filed. This leaves an alarming 30% of victims who didn’t bother to notify the police at all. In order to get ahold of the problem of identity theft, victims need to be proactive about stopping thieves with police intervention. Otherwise, the crime will perpetuate, as it is easy to get away with and can strongly benefit the thief. Title: How IASO has Failed to Protect Personal Identifiable Information? When it comes to protecting private information, no one wants to feel exposed. The most precious information a person may ever possess is their personal identifiable information: a Social Security Number, address, date of birth and even a name. If this information is stolen or tampered with, it may never be restored. Personal identifiable information, or PII as it is commonly known, has been strictly protected for years by lengthy information security regulations. Information security, or IS, works to inspect, maintain, record or destroy information while guarding it against unauthorized access, use or alteration. Most often, this type of security refers to computer-based security, simply because most precious information is now recorded on these electronic systems. The question is: is your information really being protected? Unfortunately, your PII might not be under lock and key. There are several issues with IS, many of which revolve around people – the ones both protecting and sabotaging your information. Out of all the issues plaguing IS, these are the most dangerous: * Ignorance. Computer security threats most often occur when computers are hacked or infected through sites, files and other media found through the internet. Employees and individuals that are uneducated in smart internet searching and threat recognition are more likely to invite hackers, infections and identity thieves into their databases. These days, many employees receive very little training on protection against internet dangers, which can result in serious consequences. * Covering, not solving. When problems are encountered in a system, many individuals focus on finding the infection so that it can be destroyed. Other avenues include wiping the computer altogether to rid it of the virus. However, neither of these methods takes away the source of the problem; if there is a site that is causing the problem, it should be avoided; if there is something else causing the disturbance, it should be discovered, reported and destroyed. Too often the focus is on fixing the immediate problem instead of devising a permanent solution. * Personal irresponsible action. PII is often disclosed through more simple means than computer hacking; many times, information security problems come directly from people. Individuals that place important information on sites, communicate information over internet messaging, or even disclose private information in the everyday world are at higher risk of security threats. Theft of computers, hard drives and flash drives also occurs frequently in unwatchful workplaces. All of these issues make IS less effective, and should be taken into serious consideration when any government organization, company or individual is seeking to protect precious personal identifiable information. Identity Theft Victim Statistics| Approximately 15 million United States residents have their identities used fraudulently each year with financial losses totalling upwards of $50 billion. * On a case-by-case basis, that means approximately 7% of all adults have their identities misused with each instance resulting in approximately $3,500 in losses. Close to 100 million additional Americans have their personal identifying information placed at risk of identity theft each year when records maintained in government and corporate databases are lost or stolen. These alarming statistics demonstrate identity theft may be the most frequent, costly and pervasive crime in the United States. The sophistication level of professional identity thieves involved in organized crime continues to grow along with the methods they develop. From individually tailored phishing and vishing scams, to increasingly successful hacks of corporate and government databases, to elaborate networks of botnets designed to hijack millions of computers without any trace, there is an ever-increasing threat to all Americans. At the same time, basic methods of identity theft continue unabated. From stealing wallets and purses, to dumpster diving and stealing mail, to the use of pretext and social engineering to deceive customer call centers into releasing personal account information, the original methods of identity theft still work. As the methods used to perform identity theft expand, so do the types of accounts and services being stolen by identity thieves. Credit, debit, checking and saving accounts are no longer the only targets. Identity fraud has grown to include theft of cell and landline phone service; cable and satellite television service; power, water, gas and electric service; Internet payment service; medical insurance; home mortgages and rental housing; automobile, boat and other forms of financing and loans; and, government benefits. Identity thieves will also use stolen identities to obtain employment and to deceive police when arrested. Quite simply, every individual or business is vulnerable to attack when it comes to personal or corporate information, products and services. *Based on a range of information gathered from public and private resources. | | Techniques for obtaining and exploiting personal information for identity theft Identity thieves typically obtain and exploit personally identifiable information about individuals, or various credentials they use to authenticate themselves, in order to impersonate them. The statute now makes the possession of any means of identification to knowingly transfer, possess, or use without lawful authority a federal crime, alongside unlawful possession of identification documents. However, for federal jurisdiction to prosecute, the crime must include an identification document that either: (a) is purportedly issued by the United States, (b) is used or intended to defraud the United States, (c) is sent through the mail, or (d) is used in a manner that affects interstate or foreign commerce. See 18 U. S. C.  §Ã‚  1028(c). Punishment can be up to 5, 15, 20, or 30 years in federal prison, plus fines, depending on the underlying crime per 18 U. S. C.  §Ã‚  1028(b). In addition, punishments for the unlawful use of a means of identification were strengthened in  § 1028A (Aggravated Identity Theft), allowing for a consecutive sentence under specific enumerated felony violations as defined in  § 1028A(c)(1) through (11). The Act also provides the Federal Trade Commission with authority to track the number of incidents and the dollar value of losses. Their figures relate mainly to consumer financial crimes and not the broader range of all identification-based crimes. [35] If charges are brought by state or local law enforcement agencies, different penalties apply depending on the state. Six Federal agencies conducted a joint task force to increase the ability to detect identity theft. Their joint recommendation on red flag guidelines is a set of requirements on financial institutions and other entities which furnish credit data to credit reporting services to develop written plans for detecting identity theft. The FTC has determined that most medical practices are considered creditors and are subject to requirements to develop a plan to prevent and respond to patient identity theft. [36] These plans must be adopted by each organizations Board of Directors and monitored by senior executives. [37] Identity theft complaints as a percentage of all fraud complaints decreased from 2004-2006. [38] The Federal Trade Commission reported that fraud complaints in general were growing faster than ID theft complaints. [38] The indings were similar in two other FTC studies done in 2003 and 2005. In 2003, 4. 6 percent of the US population said they were a victim of ID theft. In 2005, that number had dropped to 3. 7 percent of the population. [39][40] The Commissions 2003 estimat e was that identity theft accounted for some $52. 6 billion of losses in the preceding year alone and affected more than 9. 91 million Americans;[41] the figure comprises $47. 6 billion lost by businesses and $5 billion lost by consumers. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a report released in 2007 revealed that 8. 3 million American adults, or 3. 7 percent of all American adults, were victims of identity theft in 2005. 42] The latest report from the FTC showed that ID theft increased by 21% in 2008. However, credit card fraud, that crime which is most closely associated with the crime of ID theft, has been declining as a percentage of all ID theft. In 2002, 41% of all ID theft complaints involved a credit card. That percentage has dropped to 21% in 2008. [43] Two states, California[44] and Wisconsin[45] have created an Office of Privacy Protection to assist their citizens in avoiding and recovering from identity theft. In Massachusetts in 2009-2010, Governor Deval Pat rick made a commitment to balance consumer protection with the needs of small business owners. His Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation announced certain adjustments to Massachusetts identity theft regulations that maintain protections and also allows flexibility in compliance. These updated regulations went into effect on March 1, 2010. The regulations are clear that their approach to data security is a risk-based approach important to small businesses and might not handle a lot of personal information about customers. [46][47] The IRS has created the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit to help taxpayers who are victims of federal tax-related identity theft. Generally, the identity thief will use a stolen SSN to file a forged tax return and attempt to get a fraudulent refund early in the filing season. A taxpayer will need to fill out Form 14039, Identity Theft Affidavit.