Consumers need stronger federal protection against improper colle...
Consumers need stronger federal protection against improper collection and sale of personal data and fast notice when sensitive data has been put at risk, the House Homeland Security Committee’s Democratic staff said. The report urged Congress to: (1) Regulate…
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data brokers by extending the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to data brokers like ChoicePoint and LexisNexis, requiring they hew to the same data-sharing standards and consumer protections as consumer reporting agencies. (2) Set data security standards imposing on data brokers and credit reporting agencies obligations similar to those the Gramm- Leach-Bliley Act places on regulated financial institutions. (3) Mandate uniform notification methods for data brokers, consumer reporting agencies and financial entities to use in notifying consumers after a breach in any data system in which an unauthorized party is likely to misuse sensitive data. (4) Require retailers to assume more responsibility for guarding customer data by stipulating any business that routinely collects and maintains customer credit card, check or other payment data notify customers or their financial institutions in instances of data breach. The report called data breaches and ID theft especially troublesome because they show how easily terrorists could adopt false identities to sneak into the U.S. or finance operations. And criminals use off-the-shelf technology to make counterfeit IDs that are hard to detect. The report was prepared for Democratic Reps. Bean (Ill.), Thompson (Miss.) and Markey (Mass.).