If Americans are truly serious about protecting their social security numbers and other identity information, they should consider giving up their easy access to credit. In other words, sacrifice some convenience in exchange for tighter security. This is how identity theft is kept at relatively low levels in countries outside the United States, particularly in Europe.

With businesses from banks to gas stations to the local baseball club offering Americans credit, people may be surprised to learn that consumers in France, for example, rarely switch banks or use credit cards from issuers other than their own bank. In these nations, the average citizen doesn't worry about their credit report.

Privacy rules in France, as in much of Europe, include strict regulations about private companies accessing personal data. A bank can share information about customer behavior within its own operations but not with outside companies. Credit histories tend to be short, because they're limited.

This makes it tougher to steal identities, but it also means it is hard to reap rewards for maintaining good credit, the case in the United States. Credit is also likely cost more, since few institutions can grant it, says Ted Crooks, vice president of global fraud solutions for credit management firm Fair Isaac Corp. Fair Isaac's fraud protection software is used in two-thirds of all credit card transactions. The company's FICO scores, which measure credit risk, are the most used in the world as part of the lending approval process.

"The fundamental tradeoff is you can have greater security at the expense of convenience and often times competitiveness for the consumer dollar," he says. On the other hand, "the more companies that can get information about you and bid for your dollars and credit, the more bad guys can, too."

Nowhere but in the United States does direct-to-consumer credit reporting exist, says Avivah Litan, a vice president at research firm Gartner. "In Western Europe, the credit industry is not as developed," she says adding bureaus in this country have made credit scores available in response to pressure from consumer groups.

"In France, you don't accumulate good credit, you don't get the benefit you would in the U.S. because privacy laws restrict activities of credit bureaus," Crooks says. "They don't maintain nearly as much information as here. It's hard to build up a positive rating - and also bad one. The system is not as flexible because of the privacy rules."

As another example of policies abroad that Americans might consider an inconvenience, purchases via credit card in some Eastern European countries have an extra layer of authorization. Crooks says before a transaction can be approved, a text message sent to the cardholder's cell phone which must be answered to finalize the transaction. On top of that, European credit cards - almost all of which require a personal identification number - contain an embedded microchip that makes them "smartcards." These cards are more secure than those of their U.S. counterparts, which use a magnetic stripe to hold personal data and are easier to counterfeit.

The technology to recognize fraudulent behavior and protect personal data isn't any better, though, Crooks says. "In the U.S., the work is done by math back at the bank. In other parts of the world, they focus on what happens at the merchant and the security of the card itself," Crooks says.