Congress Urged to Get Tough on Identity Theft; Senate takes up bill

[Dover]

Remember all those data theft breaches?

WASHINGTON, July 28 /U.S. Newswire/ -- After a year in which millions of Americans have been put at risk of identity theft because of a series of data security breaches at companies across the country, Consumers Union urged Congress to adopt a set of safeguards to provide consumers with tougher protection against such fraud. New identity theft legislation is expected to be considered by the Senate Commerce Committee (S. 1408) and the Senate Judiciary Committee (S. 1332) as early as today.

Consumer groups are concerned that an intense lobbying campaign in Congress by industry groups may leave Americans without the safeguards they need. Industry lobbyists are fighting to block a new right for consumers to freeze access to credit files, stricter rules regarding data security, mandatory notices of all security breaches, and the ability of states to provide stronger identity theft protections.

"If lobbyists working for big financial companies and the data broker industry get their way, consumers may be left in the dark when sensitive information about them is lost or stolen due to lax security," said Susanna Montezemolo. "Consumers are counting on Congress to resist pressure from industry groups and provide meaningful protection against the growing threat of identity theft."

Consumers Union urged members of the Senate Commerce and Judiciary Committees to adopt legislation that included the following reforms:

...cont'd >>>

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=51006

[Catfight]

1. Long over due! nt

[Lerkfish]

2. I'm suspicious, however.

they rarely do anything that is not in the corporate interests, and there is a directive to collate information on all of us.

I, in fact, think these identity "thefts" are black ops of the neocon govt. Under pretext of theft, getting the information wholesale.

notice how no one has ever been caught. The stuff just turns up missing.
convenient.