Protect Yourself From Identity theft

I've just activated my A&L Premium Plus debit card, and got some hard sell about identity theft and how they offer a service to protect you.

It's for the princely sum of £49.99 per year, and is described on www.protectmyidentity.co.uk. What do you reckon? Worth it? Or can I do pretty much the same for free?
This really is Insurance companies taking advantage of the scaremongering re Identity Theft. What people need to remember is that if any company provides goods/services or loans to someone providing false details then it is that company that is liable for the losses - NOT the person whose details have been fraudulently used, so why do you need insurance for something that you are not liable for?

Granted, it will cause you major problems in so much as you may well be required to provide proof that it wasn't you that signed any agreements or took out any loans but you should be able to do this quite esaily by providing copies of signatures, proof of address etc etc to name a couple. ID fraud is easy because companies make obtaining goods/services too easy and don't carry out sufficiently stringent credit checks because at the end of the day they want to make a sale without giving the opportunity for us to change our minds or go elsewhere.

You'd be better off investing your money in a good shredder and shredding every single piece of personal information that is heading to the dustbin, that way you will reduce the risk of id fraud to a minimum.