A key industry privacy expert was unsure if identity theft protection act, approved by a senate panel last week could become law this year for several reasons.
But it just might, if enough public pressure was applied.
The senate commerce committee approved a bill, s. 1408, the identity theft protection act, that would make businesses responsible for safeguarding consumer information, according to new reports. The bill would further rein in the brisk trade of individual social security numbers.
Committee Chairman Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) “said he wasn’t going to try to bring the bill to the floor until he got the jurisdictional issues resolved,” said Marty Abrams, executive director of information policy center at the law firm of Hunton & Williams, Atlanta. He noted that right now, separate bills were being considered in the House and Senate Banking, Judiciary and Commerce Committees.
In any case, he doubted the Senate would take up any bill during its august recess. After that, he said the Senate would be occupied with other matters. “Congress is going to be very busy this fall with the Supreme Court nomination and various appropriations bills,” Abrams warned.
But he did note that s. 1480 did have bipartisan support and “but if there’s enough public angst about it” Congress would find a way to consider it.
The bill would reportedly make businesses responsible for safeguarding consumer information and would require businesses to develop standards for protecting information.
A breach affecting 1,000 or more customers would have to be reported to the federal trade commission and to consumer reporting agencies. And unless a business has a specific need for a person’s social security number, it could not solicit that number. The bill would further require any states that still place a social security number on a driver’s license would have to stop doing so.
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