October 17, 2007 - A new bipartisan proposal by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) would give ID theft victims the right to seek restitution from those who stole their identities. While the value of this provision is questionable - many of those committing identity theft do so via the internet and are not located in the United States - the bill would also give police and prosecutors new tools to fight cyber-crime and identity theft.

According to the press release from Senator Leahy, the bill entitled the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act of 2007 would:

• Give victims of identity theft the ability to seek restitution for the loss of time and money spent restoring credit and remedying the harms of identity theft;
• Expand the jurisdiction of federal computer fraud statutes to cover small businesses and corporations;
• Eliminate the prosecutorial requirement that sensitive identity information must have been stolen through an interstate or foreign communication and instead focuses on whether the victim's computer is used in interstate or foreign commerce, allowing for the prosecutions of cases in which both the identify thief's computer and the victim's computer are located in the same state;
• Make it a felony to employ spyware or key-loggers to damage ten or more computers regardless of the aggregate amount of damage caused, ensuring that the most egregious identity thieves will not escape with a minimal, or no, sentence;
• Eliminate the requirement that the loss resulting from damage to a victim's computer must exceed $5,000; under this bill violations resulting in less than $5,000 damage would be criminalized as misdemeanors;
• Add the crime of threatening to obtain or release information from a protected computer to the definition of a cyber crime and expands the definition of a cyber crime to include demanding money in relation to a protected computer, where the damage to the victim computer was caused to facilitate the extortion. By expanding this definition, violators of this provision are subject to a criminal fine and up to five years in prison.

"In 2006, some 8.4 million Americans became victims to identity theft. Victims are often left with a bad credit report and must spend months and even years regaining their financial health. In the meantime, victims have difficulty getting credit, obtaining loans, renting apartments, and even getting hired," stated Specter. "The Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act will give federal prosecutors the tools they need to combat identity theft. Perhaps most importantly, the bill will enable federal prosecutors to seek restitution for the time and money that victims spend restoring their credit."

The bill was introduced to the Senate yesterday and has been referred to the Judiciary Committee for consideration. There is no word on when the Committee will consider the legislation but given the fact that Leahy is chairman of the committee, it is likely to come up soon.

by Jim Malmberg

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