A Year Late and a Lot Out of Step: Administration Discovers Identity Theft Crisis

A Year Late and a Lot Out of Step: Administration Discovers Identity Theft Crisis

Almost a year after the ChoicePoint data theft scandals rocked the country raising public concerns about identity theft, President Bush has announced his plans to launch a new executive order on identity theft, but the President's dedication to the privacy of citizens is out of step with the legislation driven in Congress by his own party. Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), co-chair of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, made the following remarks on the President's sudden concern about identity theft.

"More than 55 million Americans have had their personal information compromised since data broker ChoicePoint announced a breach in its systems in February 2005. Now, more than a year after the ChoicePoint breach, the Republican-controlled Congress continues to put the interests of the data brokers over the interests of the millions of Americans whose personal data is jeopardized. Consumers' Social Security numbers, medical records, financial data and related sensitive information are precious pieces of data. This delay is unacceptable," said Rep. Markey.

"Personal identifiers like Social Security numbers can unlock the doors to Americans' private lives and bank accounts. We must not allow consumers' most personal data to be bought and sold in the data markets or to be left accessible to data thieves. That is why I have introduced several pieces of legislation to close the loopholes that allow data brokers to buy and sell consumer data without proper safeguards and to prevent the sale of Social Security numbers."

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http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1536&Itemid=125