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ChoicePoint Inc., a seller of information about most households and their inhabitants, became an overnight household name last month. The Alpharetta, Ga., company disclosed that criminals posing as legitimate business operators had acquired 145,000 consumer records in October 2004. This announcement was followed by a report that the company experienced a similar breach in 2000. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an investigation into stock sales made just before news of the October breach came out.
Re: ChoicePoint and Data Security
Posted by: a4quattro 2005-03-10 11:43:58 In reply to: Kelly Shermach
The California approach is the only way, short of class action law suits, to PROTECT against identity theft. Each CA citizen can choose to lockdown their access to any new financial transactions such as new credit card applications, loans, checking accounts, etc. This is done by registering yourself, with proper ID and in person, to a new state agency that assigns a password which is then required for any new financial transactions in your name. SSN, birthdate, mother's maiden name, and any other previous information fragment used to establish identity is no longer adequate in CA to open new financial accounts. Why haven't other states adopted this? Banks, credit agencies, and establishments that provide credit histories like Equifax and the offending Choice Point all lobby against it as they would have less opportunities to sell their products.
Some states like NJ have legislation in the talking phases, but I doubt there will be any change until either citizens complain about the lack of protection or the politicians themselves become victims themselves of ID theft. Get active and contact your state legislators to protect us.
Some states like NJ have legislation in the talking phases, but I doubt there will be any change until either citizens complain about the lack of protection or the politicians themselves become victims themselves of ID theft. Get active and contact your state legislators to protect us.
