Congress Urged to Get Tough on Identity Theft; Consumers Union Outlines Needed Reforms as Senate Committees Take Up ID Theft Protection Bills

Consumers Union is wading into the debate on law reform around ID theft and privacy incidents. The group has issued a press release that calls for the following protections:

CongressUrged to Get Tough on Identity Theft; Consumers Union Outlines Needed Reforms as Senate Committees Take Up ID Theft Protection Bills - Yahoo! News

"Meaningful notice about data security breaches: Consumers need to be notified whenever sensitive information about them has been compromised so they can take steps to protect themselves against identity theft. Congress shouldn't allow the company that has experienced the breach to decide on its own when the breach may cause harm to consumers. Consumers cannot count on companies to do a good job evaluating whether they are at risk of identity theft when so many of them have demonstrated such a poor track record keeping information safe.

Strict new data security rules: Congress must impose strong requirements on information brokers to protect the information they hold and to screen and monitor the persons to whom they make that information available.

Protect Social Security numbers: In this information age, Social Security numbers have become widely accessible and are the key used by crooks to steal identities and unlock credit files. Restrict the sale, collection, use, sharing, posting, display and secondary use of Social Security numbers.

Give all consumers the right to freeze credit files: A security freeze enables consumers to prevent anyone from looking at his or her own credit files for purposes of granting credit unless the consumer chooses to let that particular business look at the information. This gives the consumer control over who has access to the information needed to process a credit application and prevents crooks from opening up new accounts using stolen information. When the consumer is applying for credit, the freeze can be lifted temporarily so the application can be processed. Ten states have adopted some form of security freeze for consumers.

Limit preemption of state safeguards: States have been innovators in the field of identity theft and Congress should preserve the ability of states to develop new ways of protecting consumers. Congress should set a minimum standard of consumer protection for everyone, allowing states to give their residents additional safeguards."