Posted on 03/15/2005 2:28:38 PM PST by holymoly
The chairman of ChoicePoint, which disclosed the personal information of 145,000 Americans to identity thieves, publicly apologized on Tuesday for the data mishap.
ChoicePoint's Derek Smith, also the chief executive, told a congressional committee he wanted to offer an "apology on behalf of our company," which he said would help anyone who suffered identity fraud as a result. The data disclosure has led to 750 known cases of identity fraud so far.
The incident "has caused us to undergo some serious soul-searching," Smith said. ChoicePoint is a data warehouse that compiles electronic dossiers on Americans and sells them to insurance companies, other businesses and police agencies.
Smith's apology comes as Congress considers new laws in response to a series of security snafus involving not just ChoicePoint but also Bank of America, payroll provider PayMaxx and Reed Elsevier Group's LexisNexis service. A U.S. Senate committee held a hearing on the security of sensitive consumer information last week.
During Tuesday's hearing, two legislative approaches seemed to be the most popular: restricting the sale of Social Security numbers, and requiring companies to disclose to people when a serious security breach of their information takes place. Some states already are considering such security breach requirements, and California has enacted such a law.
Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee, asked whether there was "any reason why we should not make it illegal to trade a person's Social Security number, and the data that goes with it, without their permission?"
Deborah Platt Majoras, chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, said she generally agreed with such a rule. The only exception, Majoras said, was perhaps when police or private investigators are "tracking down criminals."
But ChoicePoint's Smith said that he wasn't willing to agree that such a law would be wise.
"I'd have to better understand the definition of 'sale' and how it's done," Smith said in response to a question from Rep. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat. "There are certain circumstances where the sale of those numbers are in the consumer's best interests."
Kurt Sanford, CEO of LexisNexis, agreed: "I would not support a blanket ban on the sale of Social Security numbers."
I wonder if there's any apology for poor data quality? "At least the thieves got craptacular info..."
"I wonder how they would feel if their SS numbers had been sold to identity thieves.
I think a challenge should go out to all hackers to get the info on Smith and Sanford and spread it over the internet for all to have a go at them.
That's a very good idea. Sauce for the goose.
You just aren't getting this, Kurt. And I think most every American would agree with me that no one needs to trade in Social Security info. That's private info. And every American would believe it should remain so. Go to Canada, Kurt.
I seems to me that this is a field in which tort lawyers can do some real good for society while enriching themselves in the process. Slap Choice Point with a $1B lawsuit and then start shopping the other big database firms.
Doesn't the revised bankruptcy laws render such lawsuits against major corporations illegal?
Having been the victim of identity theft, I think that it would be a valuable and moral lesson for these two to experience what a headache it is and what they are most probably responsible for putting people through.
well, as long as he's sorry, I guess it is ok then.
wow imagine if someone got on the google group for hackers and said, "I'm Derek Smith of Choicement, and I dare you basement dwellers to try and steal my identity"
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