In Oklahoma, the State House of Representatives passed HB 2357. This bill will force state government agencies to notify citizens in the event of a data breach. The bill specifies that notifications must be made in the most expedient time frame possible, and only allows delays in the event that law enforcement authorities make a request. The bill also forbids the display of Social Security Numbers in online public records.
The bill received unanimous approval and has been sent to the State Senate for their vote. If approved there, it will be sent to the governor for his signature.
The New York State Assembly passed a series of bills to strengthen consumer protection laws within the state. Among the measures passed are provisions that require companies to comply with strict standards when disposing of documents that contain consumer data, and to promptly notify consumers in the event their data is exposed to unauthorized individuals. The measures also include broad restrictions on businesses and state agency use of Social Security Numbers to identify consumers.
One of the most promising aspects of the New York legislation is that if the measures are signed into law, consumers in the state will be able to freeze their credit files. This is the only known method to prevent identity theft.
In Illinois, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed a law that modifies the states existing credit freeze law. The modification will allow all residents of the state to freeze their credit file. The previous law allowed only those who had already become victims of identity theft to have a freeze placed on their file.
The new law, which goes into effect January 1, 2007, was passed with heavy lobbying from AARP. Consumers who want to freeze their credit file will be charge $10 by each of the CRAs when they establish, lift, or reinstate a freeze on their file.
It is probably no accident that all of these changes in law are coming quickly in the wake of the disastrous disclosure of veterans’ information announce by the VA earlier this week. The potential damage from this fiasco is almost too great to imagine.
Based on 2004 statistics, the Department of Justice (DOJ) estimates that about 3% of households suffered from some form of identity theft. Of these victims, 48% experienced credit card fraud, 25% had fraudulent activity on some other form of account, 15% had their information misused and 12% experienced multiple forms of fraudulent activity. Victims experienced an average loss of nearly $1,300 and weeks worth of wasted time trying to clear their names.
The DOJ statistics cover only about 3.6 million victims. But the recent VA data breach involves as many as 26.5 million people. If the data taken from the VA falls into the wrong hands, it is easy to imagine the amount of financial damage that might be done. Since Congress has proven itself incapable of passing either credit freeze or data breach legislation, state legislatures across the country are now trying to fast-track their own bills in an effort to better protect their citizens.
Politics & Politicians 
