Concerns Over ID Theft Mount
Bruce Mohl reports in the Boston Globe on increasing concerns about identity theft based upon the LexisNexis incident and new news about potentially compromised credit card accounts by GM MasterCard.
Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly issued a statement saying he is investigating the LexisNexis breach and called for more regulation of data-mining companies.''The majority of people are probably not even aware that these companies exist, yet they are collecting personal and financial information -- everything from your Social Security number to where you shop -- without you knowing it," he said.
Heather Timmons also reports on this story in the New York Times. In her article, she quotes Kurt Sanford, CEO of LexisNexis as saying "No matter how perfect security is, it's not going to stop identity theft in the United States," because of the amount of information that is already available on the Internet and in public databases." He goes on to say that more steps should be taken with respect to granting credit and in the way credit cards are issued and used.
Declan McCullagh writes about this story for CNET's News.com.
"Once again we're forced to ask, why should it continue to be legal to sell a person's Social Security number without permission?" said Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican who heads the Energy and Commerce Committee. "If it takes a new law to protect people from identity thieves, so be it."
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