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New Legislation to Combat Identity Theft
coondoggie writes to tell us the Washington Post is reporting that new legislation in a numbers of states and the District of Columbia allows consumers to place a "security freeze" on their credit files. "For the millions of consumers who receive notice each year that their personal or financial data was lost or stolen, a preemptive security freeze can offer peace of mind. It blocks businesses and potential fraudsters from gaining access to a consumer's credit report and score and from granting new lines of credit in the consumer's name. In many states, consumers who want to remove the freeze can use a special identification number to unlock access to their credit file."
Yeah, that's a good idea... So how many ID-Ten-T consumers are going to carry this number around -- in their wallets/purses or leave them unsecured in a filing cabinet? When will legislators get a clue that most people are complete ignorant about the security of almost anything?
My blog
If you aren't buying a house, car, or a new credit card, you should preemptively freeze your credit and leave it that way.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
Just give us one time keys.
If I can use a piece of important information only once before it changes then nobody can replay it.
Incidentally, how do you prove you are you to actually put the freeze/unfreeze in place?
liqbase
There's a private company (Lifelock is the one I hear on the radio all the time) that also has the ability to lock down your credit. No new legislation required, it would seem. Of course, that costs money so maybe this legislation just enables individuals to lock their credit at the taxpayer's expense.
This is also supposed to stop those pre-approvals that constantly clog up your mailbox... (well, mine at least.)
More Twoson than Cupertino
Yes, I've gone back to cold, hard cash. Sure, I keep a credit card for emergency purposes (road break-downs and such), but I don't really use it much. I don't buy things over the Internet, and yep, I check my listed credit history with the credit bureaus.
And what lobbyists were in on this "legislation"? Hmmmm, do you think the credit bureaus and the banks? Hmmmm????
Sorry, whenever there's "Legislation" I automatically think that the industry lobbyists wrote it.
I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
The Post also ran a much longer, more in-depth piece looking at the process of passing freeze legislation in Delaware, easily the most banking- and business-friendly state in the union. That piece is here
One highlight, which looks at the role of the Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA), the lobbyist group that works for the data broker industry and the credit bureaus:
"Goldberg, who has worked with advocates in more than a dozen states to enact freeze legislation, said that in 2005 the CDIA and the credit-reporting agencies shifted their strategy. They no longer were outright opposed to credit-freeze laws; instead, they worked to convince states to allow the bureaus to charge as much as possible when consumers place, lift or remove credit freezes. "The credit reporting agencies clearly want consumers to pay more for the security freeze than we certainly think they should," Goldberg said. "But given that those same agencies collect all of this sensitive financial data about consumers and then turn around and sell it, we think they should also have the obligation to protect the consumer, and that's where the security freeze comes in.
...because you never know who you're dealing with.
Also make the credit reporting companies liable for the cost of the purchase if credit is denied based on faulty credit information.
Sure this is great if your identity is stolen to use your credit to rip some business off. But it does NOTHING to prevent people from using your identity when pulled over for a traffic ticket. It happened to me. Here in California all you need to do is tell a cop you don't have your ID, then give them someone else's information so they can run through the computer, when it checks out, they write that person a ticket with the other person's name. That person drives off scot free and a few monthes later you get a warrant out for your arrest for Failure to Appear in court. Let me tell you the pit in your stomach when you are wrongly accused of a crime, your insurance refuses to renew you, your local DMV refuses to renew your license, you get to drive to work with no license and insurance and you can't even go into a bar because your drivers license cannot be renewed. Of course you only find out about this just before your license is about to expire, when you need a license the most because you have no way of looking up your driving records for free. Then you get to go to court, in my case in Northern California when I live in San Diego to prove using ATM slips, credit card reciepts, and your signature and a picture of your car that you not only don't match the description of this person but that you have tons of paper trail to prove you never left your home town and tons of witnesses to say you were at work that day. Its a huge hassle. Why not make cops take a finger print of anyone they pull over if they can't provide ID, or take their picture. Can a police officer on here please explain to me why they just trust a criminals word when they are giving a name and address that it is as good as a CA Drivers License, that is pathetic.