TMCnet News
EDITORIAL: Getting tough on ID theft: Some bills in Congress won't help protect us from growing problem.(Fresno Bee (CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 1--Two very different bills on identity theft are making their way to the floor of the House. One is good for consumers trying to protect themselves from identity theft; the other is horrid. Now, the House Judiciary Committee is drafting yet a third version. Californians who care about this issue -- and everyone ought to, given the prevalence of identity theft -- should contact their members of Congress. Insist on two basic points: Whatever law Congress passes should be at least as strong as California's law. It should not do anything to weaken already existing state laws that protect consumers. The scope of the problem is well known. The Federal Trade Commission says that nearly 10 million Americans fall prey to identity theft each year. Yet there is no federal law protecting consumers when unauthorized individuals use their personal information to open new accounts or charge merchandise in their name. The ChoicePoint Inc. debacle, the largest known case of identity theft, changed the national political landscape. In that case, crooks posing as check-cashing companies or debt-collection firms got easy access to ChoicePoint's personal data records on millions of people. The information included names, addresses, Social Security numbers and credit reports. Americans wouldn't know about this scandal at all without California's pioneering 2003 law, which requires businesses to notify consumers when personal data have been accessed illegally. California law also allows consumers to freeze their credit files so thieves can't get access to them. These two elements should be in any national law. That brings us to HR3997. That bill would eliminate California's notification and security freeze laws and replace them with weaker federal ones. The House bill is worthless. HR4127 is much better. It requires companies to notify consumers when their personal information has been lost or stolen. It also allows consumers to review and dispute personal information held by data brokers such as ChoicePoint. These brokers buy and sell financial records, employment histories and medical and criminal records. Most important, this bill leaves strong state provisions intact. For example, it allows consumers to place a security freeze on their credit file if they live in a state, such as California, that allows it. Any bill that goes to the floor must be as least as strong as California's laws on notification and security freezes, and do nothing to weaken strong state laws. If not, Congress is playing into the hands of identity thieves. |