This is like putting out a fire with Gasoline. So much
help this state law does for Davidson County Voters
after the informaiton heist.

FROM:
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071229/NEWS0201/712290344...

Saturday, 12/29/07

State law takes aim at ID theft
New protections go into effect Jan. 1

By SHEILA WISSNER
Staff Writer

Thieves intent on stealing your identity to do some
after-holiday shopping will have a tougher time of
it come New Year's Day.

That's when a new state law goes into effect to make
it harder for criminals to snatch Social Security
numbers.

The law bans companies, nonprofit groups and even
government agencies in most cases from sending
mailings containing Social Security numbers or
from requiring Web site visitors to log in using
Social Security numbers. It also forbids
displaying Social Security numbers on most
identification cards.

Later in the year, other aspects of the law kick
in. Credit-reporting agencies will face new
requirements for quickly honoring requests of
consumers who don't want their information given
out.

Consumers also will be able to apply for an
"identity theft passport" to prove they have
been victims, an important item when trying to
clear up the mess left by identity thieves.

The changes will help prevent identity theft,
which is a growing problem across the country,
officials said.

"This is huge,'' said Mary Clement, director
of the state's Consumer Affairs Division.

Karin Miller, communications director for the
AARP of Ten nessee, said the law would help
reduce the growing identity theft problem here.

She said the AARP was instrumental in helping
draft and pass the legislation, which was
sponsored by House Majority Leader Gary Odom, a
Nashville Democrat, and Sen. Raymond Finney, a
Maryville Republican.

Patricia B. Lacey of Memphis was one of the
AARP members who traveled to Nashville this
past year to lobby legislators for the new law.

Criminals got the bank routing number and other
information off one of her checks a year ago.
They used the information to make counterfeit
checks. Merchants went after Lacey when
thousands of dollars in checks began to bounce.

"I had to go to the police department and bank,
'' Lacey said. "That's where I stayed for weeks.
I was either in the bank or the police department."

'Passports' to prove theft

The new law has no provision aimed at foiling
that version of identity theft, but will help
people like Lacey prove they are identity theft
victims, not criminals.

Later this year, victims will be able to apply
to local law enforcement agencies for an identity
theft "passport" issued through the state
attorney general's office.

Clement said Consumer Affairs would handle
identity theft complaints and help consumers
deal with the problems caused by identity
theft. The statewide number to call is
1-800-342-8385 or 741-4737 locally.

The new law requires attorneys to handle
civil documents such as divorce petitions
differently, said Nashville attorney David
Raybin, who represents identity theft
victims, often by suing banks or businesses
that were careless in handling customer
information.

He said that in proceedings such as divorces,
Social Security numbers must be filed
separately so that court clerks can keep
them confidential.

"People have been sweeping court documents
for identification information such as
Social Security numbers,'' he said. "This
will help reduce that."

More protections urged

Raybin said no provisions were made in the
law to remove Social Security numbers from
documents in criminal cases, however. That
area needs to be reviewed, he said.

The government needs to do more to protect
all kinds of data it generates and stores,
he said, noting that thieves stole computers
this month from the Davidson County
Election Commission containing voter
information, including Social Security
numbers.

"If I had that information and a person's
credit card, I could go wild with that,''
Raybin said.

In conjunction with the new law, the
legislature asked the comptroller's office
to report by Feb. 1 on policy changes that
state and local government should make to
protect Social Security numbers from public
disclosure, said Roxanna Pierce, spokeswoman
for the comptroller's office.

Social Security numbers stolen from a college
that Pamela Ziegler attended were used to
open credit cards in her name, the Dresden
resident said. She found out when bills
started coming in from stores she had never
set foot in. The thieves put almost $4,000
on the cards.

"It was kind of scary actually at first
because I would come home from work to check
the mail and never knew what was going to
be there,'' she said.

The law will give credit reporting agencies
a short time frame - 15 minutes if the
request is made by phone or Internet, three
days if by mail - to freeze the credit report
of a consumer who requests it.

The freeze will prevent the credit reporting
agencies from releasing anything on a
consumer's credit report, including a credit
score, to a third party without the consumer's
authorization. Those provisions go into effect
the second half of the year.

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