A NEW LAW CONGRESS CONSIDERS, THE VA THEFT COULD HURT ALL OF US...

HOW THE VA THEFT COULD HURT ALL OF US

Posted: Tuesday, June 20 at 07:20 am CT by Bob Sullivan

Last month, the VA announced an employee had lost a computer loaded with the identities of 26 million current and former GIs. The dramatic incident has inspired outrage from lawmakers in Washington D.C. Unfortunately, that outrage has taken form in legislation that could make things worse for all of us.

How? It establishes nationwide standards for data security that actually eliminate some consumer rights granted at the state level.

If The Financial Data Protection Act, already passed by the House Financial Services Committee, is approved by the full House later this month, millions of consumers could lose the right to freeze their credit reports. And all those notices consumers now receive after a company loses personal data? Many of those would no longer be required.

There are two clear problems with the bill: Under its provisions, only ID theft victims would have the right to freeze their credit; and companies that lose data would only have to tell consumers if there was a "significant risk" of harm. Guess who decides if lost data poses a significant risk?
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/06/how_the_va_thef.html