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."

Comments

Easy Solution:

[bit trollent]

Whoever lets someone use a stolen identity to get a loan or credit card or whatever should be responsible for all damages. That means forgiving the loan and restoring the credit of the victim as well as paying damanges if the victim's credit history took a hit.

Seriously, it's not my job to make sure you verify the identity of your clients and I shouldnt have any consequences if you dont do it right.

Also, anybody who loses data used to steal an identity should be responsible for the consequences. If you run over a pedestrian on a sidewalk you pay te medical bills right?

Or you're paranoid.

[khasim]

Really, how many people who haven't been the victims of fraud are going to spend money AND TIME putting these "freezes" on their records?

Instead, why not "freeze" them by default?

Then if the customer WANTS to open a new credit account, the fee to "unfreeze" can be rolled into the new account.

If the customer wants someone to do a credit check on him, the fee can be rolled into the new account OR paid by the organization doing the check.

Why pass a law that doesn't, by default, protect EVERYONE?

Personal info should be private by default

[mmdog]

I could make a very long winded post about this, but what I believe is really very simple: all personal info should be private by default.

Any time anyone wants any of of my personal info, be it SS#, Credit Report, phone number, address, email address, et al. they should be required to get my authorization before it can be released or even used. Kinda like medical/health info except done a lot more robustly. I'd go so far as to advocate serious jail time for individuals who abuse my personal info, for instance all the laptops that various government agencies manage to lose. I'd hope the threat of years in a federal penitentiary would do the trick.

I'm not holding my breath, but it pisses me off to no end that I have to maintain so much of a defense of my information.