Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Data Theft and Corporate Irresponsibility?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the they-lose-we-pay dept.

cjsnell asks: "Today, I received a letter from a student loan provider notifying me that my name and social security number had been stolen along with a contractor's computer. This makes -four- agencies that have lost my personal information, in the last year. Today's letter was the most disappointing yet: the company, Texas Guaranteed, did not offer any credit report monitoring like the previous three had. Their advice? Send a letter to the credit bureaus. Gee, thanks. Clearly, mass identity theft is completely out of hand and there doesn't seem to be any government regulation for handling these situations, nor does there seem to be any punitive action against businesses that lose customers' data. Do we, as consumers, have any recourse against these businesses?"

3 of 352 comments (clear)

  1. I just got "the letter" too by bsartist · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mine came from the Dept. of Veterans Affairs. You might have seen the story about the stolen laptop on the news. If the most well-funded military in the world can't keep a lid on our personal data, who can?

    --
    Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
  2. You can place a fraud alert on your credit report by tlambert · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can place a fraud alert on your credit report. An initial alert does not require a police report, and lasts for 90 days. During this time, you may end up having to jump through additional hoops to obtain new credit.

    The easiest way to put an alert is to use the online form at Experian; alternately, you can call any of the credit reporting agencies to also set up an alert, if you want to do it by phone, instead.

    The direct link for the Experian site to do this is:

    https://www.experian.com/consumer/cac/InvalidateSe ssion.do?code=SECURITYALERT

    More advice available here for identity theft victims:

    http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/con_steps.htm

    Hopefully, you will not need it.

    -- Terry

  3. Credit freeze under fire by greeneggs2000 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Don't worry, Congress is on the case. Republicans are trying to overturn state laws protecting against identity theft. Overriding the California law is particularly important, even to people who don't live in California -- it is the California law which has forced companies to disclose identity thefts in the first place (they have to disclose thefts involving Californians, but that's most of them).

    Credit Freeze Under Fire

    'The so-called Financial Data Protection Act of 2006 (HR3997) would also weaken state laws requiring disclosure of security breaches. In California, businesses must notify people if their personal info "was, or is reasonably believed to have been, acquired by an unauthorized person."

    'Under the proposed federal legislation, such disclosure would have to be made only if a company determines that a security breach "is reasonably likely to result in harm or inconvenience" to individual consumers.

    '"Basically, the company would have to know that you're a victim of identity theft before it needs to tell you that you could be a victim of identity theft," said Ed Mierzwinski, director of the U.S. Public Interest Group's consumer program in Washington.'