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President Bush Signs Identity Theft Legislation From the Congressional Record, H.R. 2622 White House Fact Sheet on the Act, which provides that consumers may obtain each year, free of charge, a personal credit history report, that merchants must omit from sales receipts all but the last five digits of a customer’s credit card number, and …
Today the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Buck Doe v. Elaine L. Chao, Secretary of Labor (No. 02-1377), involving the Privacy Act of 1974 and the wrongful disclosure of the social security number of a coal miner seeking benefits for black lung disease. EPIC Files Amicus Brief in Supreme Court SS# Case The Supreme …
Conferees Reach Agreement on Landmark Identity Theft Legislation: Highlights of the House Financial Services Committee conference report on H.R. 2622 on the National Consumer Credit Reporting System Improvement Act of 2003, indicate the legislation will: “Provide consumers with a free credit report every year from each of the three national credit bureaus, from a single …
A recently conducted customer information protection survey highlights increasing consumer concerns regarding the security of their personal data in online transactions, especially in the e-tail arena. The survey identifies specific companies (including American Express, eBay and AOL) and industries (including hospitals, pharmacies and banks) in whom respondents indicated particular trust.
“As Congress moves into the final wrangling over an update to the Fair Credit Reporting Act designed in part to slow the growth of identity theft, victim advocates are complaining the legislation might actually make things worse. The central issue is one of the oldest debates in American politics: states rights vs. a strong central …
“Basic Hygiene” for Sensitive Data: “IBM Chief Privacy Officer Harriet Pearson talks about things — mostly simple — companies can do to help prevent identity theft.”
New worm variant targets identity data: A new twist has been applied to an email worm, called Mimail, that appeared this past August, and it has been harnassed specifically to steal credit card data from customers of PayPal, the online payment service, which is owned by eBay.
“So-called phisher e-mails, which look like authentic notes from real companies like eBay, Citibank or America Online, are a growing problem for Internet users, who continue to fall for the dupe and give away credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, and other critical personal data.” [Link] For more information on ID theft, see the following …
From today’s Daily Business Review: “To prevent identity theft and other criminal uses of data as more court documents go online, the policy-making arm of the federal courts [U.S. Judicial Conference] has approved a plan that requires attorneys to delete selected personal data, including Social Security numbers, from both their paper and electronic filings [effective …
The Financial Services Roundtable, with 100 financial services member companies, announced plans to launch a free Identity Theft Assistance Center, with a pilot program available by Spring 2004.
CircleID reports that a letter to ICANN, seeking increased privacy for the wealth of personal data available in the WHOIS database, has been signed by a coalition of 50 organizations, including the American Library Association (ALA). The ICANN Meeting is currently underway in Carthage, Tunisia through October 31, and a link to the agenda is …
Federal Agencies’ Guidelines [proposed August 12, 2003, by the FDIC, OCC, Federal Reserve and OTS] regarding Notification by Financial Companies when a Security Breach Compromises Customer Data and Exposes Individuals to Identity Theft: comments submitted by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse on October 14.
