The Laws, Your Liability, & The Best Solution
Disclaimer The laws discussed in this website are, like most laws, routinely amended and interpreted through legal and social challenges. The information provided is not to be taken as legal advice and you are encouraged to review the laws and draw your own conclusions through independent research. |
Because of ubiquitous television ads, the public believes that identity theft is a joke. It is a woman talking with a man's voice, a banjo playing waiter, a victimless crime with zero liability.
Nothing could be further! What it is in fact, is an insidious crime that is exploding, that costs businesses today in excess of 50 Billion Dollars per year, results in the permanent corruption of its victims files in many cases, ruining their lives in extreme cases and causing potentially the larges liablity for businesses, and governmental bodies since asbestosis and tobacco litigation.
| With the workplace being the site of more than half of all identity thefts,... executives must "stop thinking about data protection as solely an IT responsibility," more education is necessary. - "ID Thefts Prevalent at work" Human Resource Executive, April 5, 2007 |
Our lives revolve around and are controlled by basically two numbers, our Social Security number and our Driver's license number. Our Driver's License identity, social security identity, medical identity, character/criminal identity, financial identity and synthetic identity revolve around those two numbers and the databases that contain them.
Your numbers are better than loose cash as they can be turned into cash, over and over again. Since they cannot catch the thief, the government has decided to make governmental and non-governmental entities liable for the protection of the information and by extension, its accuracy.
The Red Flags Rule will affect virtually all businesses. Previous statutes like GLB Safeguards Rule and the HIPAA Security rule have certain requirements, in many respects concerning keeping data private.
The Red Flags Rule is about preventing Identity Theft where possible, mitigating it when it occurs and various compliance requirements of those covered by the rule.
Red Flags Rule - Mandatory Compliance by November 1, 2008.
NEWS UPDATE!!! FTC Will Grant Six-Month Delay of Enforcement of 'Red Flags' Rule for implementing an Identity Theft Program & to oversee service providers, vendors, and 3party contractors. BUT!! - "Today’s announcement and the release of an Enforcement Policy Statement do not affect other federal agencies’ enforcement of the original November 1, 2008 deadline for institutions subject to their oversight to be in compliance."
"From a practical risk management standpoint, every business (and government entity) should take appropriate risk management actions and seek to meet the requirements and standards of consumer privacy and data security laws, whether or not it has a statutory obligation to do so. Similarly, businesses and government entities should also not take "the easy way out" and seek to only protect that information which is specifically identified as protected under the strictest interpretations of the law. - Michael Barnett, CITRMS - CEO - The Institute of Fraud Risk Management, Inc.
There is a moral and ethical obligation that attaches to the use and possession of another's information. Many forward-thinking companies have recognized that information security and careful protection of confidential consumer information is not only an investment well worth making, but it can even provide a significant competitive advantage.
Compliance is a choice, and in the Information Age, where confidential information is the currency of thieves, it is a choice that every entity should make - large or small, public or private."
Many businesses/employers/entities don’t know where to start, that is why you were directed to this website, is to expand your knowledge of these laws, gain a better understanding of the reality of Identity Theft, and know that there is answer to assisting you in beginning the process of implementing reasonable steps.
Wiley Rein, LLP - White Paper - Your Growing Exposure for Identity Theft Risks