Several sources indicate that the number of confidential client records stolen in the last few years is many tens of millions. Edentify, an identify theft prevention vendor (http://www.edentify.us/), states that more than 32 million records from more than 70 vendors have been stolen in the first half of 2006 alone. They project over 78 million stolen U.S. identities by the end of the year.

The United States has a population of 298 million people, of which 85 percent are 19 or older. That works out to 235 million people with credit records and bank accounts to ruin. If Edentify's 78 million figure is even close to accurate, that means that 33 percent of America's confidential information will be in the hands of thieves this year alone.

I'm sure some of you think Edentify's figures are overstated and misleading, but they are calculated using publicly reported numbers; download a related identity theft chart (http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/ChronDataBreaches.htm) created by Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit consumer organization, to see the data.

I'm inclined to believe them, myself, although I'm sure there is some data crossover -- I've been notified by three different vendors this year that my information has been stolen. But does anyone want to bet that the cross-reported figures would be more than offset by all the lost and stolen records that no one even knows about?

But, hey, cut the figure in half. Maybe only 32 million records will be stolen this year.