A look back at past issues of the Lebanon Express demonstrates one of the ways in which the world is different than it was 30, or 40, or more years ago.

Decades ago, news in small town newspapers included much more information about area residents. For example, the Lebanon Express had columns from outlying areas, such as the Crowfoot News and Denny News, that told who went elk hunting last week and what they shot (or didn't shoot), who had visitors from out of town, and so on. Most of those columns disappeared 20 or 30 years ago.

The Express also printed names of patients admitted to the medical and surgical wards of the hospital. Now health care facilities not only won't give out names of patients to reporters, it won't give out information to patients' family members if they're not on an approved list.

As a society, we have a different standard of privacy than we did in the past, perhaps because we feel vulnerable in a way that our parents and grandparents didn't.

In the good old days, thieves might break into your house and rob you of cash and the things inside, but they weren't likely to steal your identity. Most people carried their social security card in their wallet and their biggest concern if they lost it was the hassle of replacing it.

The world is different now. In 2006, more than 2,800 Oregonians were victims of identity theft, ranking Oregon 13th in the nation per capita, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Identity theft victims may incur damaged credit records, unauthorized charges on credit cards, and unauthorized withdrawals from bank accounts.

Your social security number is a valuable piece of information for people who wouldn't think twice about using it to take everything you have except the cash you carry and maybe the things in your house.

The Oregon Consumer Identity Theft Protection Act, passed unanimously by the 2007 Legislature, requires businesses to shield Social Security numbers and notify consumers in the event of a security breach.

That's good, but a better move is this: don't give your social security number to anyone who doesn't need it. That excludes everyone but those who file tax income information, such as your employer and your bank.