Originally published July 8 2005
Wired staff editorial asks government to do more to stop identity theft
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The staff at Wired magazine released an editorial in which they question the government's enforcement of current identity theft laws and have recommendations to improve them.
On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a hearing on identity theft with members of the Federal Trade Commission.
The purpose is to gather information to determine whether more federal legislation is necessary to protect consumers from identity theft.
Identity theft has become the epidemic that consumer advocates long warned about, but which Congress has taken few steps to counter.
According to the FTC, about 10 million Americans were victims of identity theft last year, a crime wave that costs companies and consumers an estimated $50 billion annually.
Thieves used to satisfy themselves with Dumpster diving for credit card receipts and instant credit applications in order to ride roughshod over a victim's good credit rating.
Recent high-profile data security problems at companies like ChoicePoint, LexisNexis, Bank of America and Citibank make it clear that companies are doing little to protect sensitive data, despite assurances years ago that voluntary industry guidelines they established would pre-empt the need for government regulation.
But the rules for credit agencies are woefully inadequate.
And they don't cover other businesses and organizations that handle sensitive personal information, such as employers, academic institutions and data brokers.
Congress should mandate strict privacy and security standards for anyone who handles sensitive information, and apply tough financial penalties against companies that fail to comply.
Efforts to secure sensitive data in the health and financial industries led to laws so complicated and confusing that few have been able to follow them faithfully.
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