More than 9,300,000 people in America had their identities pilfered last year. A new bill that purports to crack down on the problem is now headed to the Senate floor for a vote.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday passed the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act, a measure that would make fraud connected to electronic or digital information theft a "predicate" for a racketeering charge. The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vermont) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) would slap anyone who knows about a data breach and covers it up with a stiff fine or prison time.
Under the bill, a person can easily find out which of his personal electronic records a data broker releases to third parties and can correct any erroneous information in the records. Large companies with databases of personal information would be required to disclose breaches if they carried a significant risk of harm.
A separate bill introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) would force companies to alert customers to a breach in the case of reasonable risk of harm. Brian Krebs at Security Fix has more on that bill.
Photo: Samiksha
