[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 23 (Thursday, March 3, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E368-E369]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    INTRODUCTION OF ``INFORMATION PROTECTION AND SECURITY ACT'' AND 
               ``SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER PROTECTION ACT''

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 3, 2005

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing two bills aimed at 
protecting the privacy of personally identifiable individual 
information and making it more difficult for unauthorized persons to 
obtain access to such data.
  In Bonfire of the Vanities, the novelist Tom Wolfe wrote about ``The 
Bororo Indians, a primitive jungle tribe who live along the Vermelho 
River in the Amazon Jungles of Brazil.'' According to Wolfe, the 
Bororos believed that ``there is no such thing as a private self.'' 
Instead, they ``regard the mind as an open cavity, like a cave or a 
tunnel or an arcade, if you will, in which the entire village dwells 
and the jungle grows.'' Wolfe compared this to the situation faced by 
his protagonist, Sherman McCoy, who was caught in the middle of a 
public scandal in the last quarter of the 20th century.
  In the 21st century, we now face the prospect of a world in which all 
of us--not just someone in the midst of scandal--will be forced to live 
without a private self: with the entire ``village'' able to obtain 
access to some of the most personal aspects of our lives.
  In the emerging surveillance society of the 21st century, the data 
mining and information brokerage firms, much like Wolf's Bororo 
Indians, believe that there is no such thing as a private self. These 
companies are collecting and selling a vast array of personal 
information about the American public. For a fee, these companies will 
tell you someone's Social Security number, their address, phone number, 
driver's license number, driving record, any criminal record 
information, court records, insurance claims, divorce records, and even 
credit and financial information.
  Recent press reports indicate that ChoicePoint, an information broker 
and data mining firm, had allowed a group of Nigerian con artists to 
get access to names, Social Security numbers, and other personal 
information about 140,000 Americans, including roughly 1,100 
Massachusetts residents. Apparently this is not the first time that 
ChoicePoint has allowed criminal identity thieves to get access to such 
information. Two years ago, a similar problem reportedly occurred at 
the same company.
  Unchecked, these companies take advantage of the most valuable 
possessions that Americans have: their personal identities. Companies 
like ChoicePoint are playing Russian roulette with the personal 
information and identities of millions of Americans. If we don't take 
steps to protect America's consumers soon, it is not a question of 
whether or not more Americans will lose their privacy--it is question 
of when will the next ID theft scandal hit. We must take immediate 
action to protect consumers from more information breaches.

[[Page E369]]

  The ``Information Protection and Security Act,'' which I am 
introducing today in the House, and which Senator Nelson of Florida is 
introducing in the Senate, would do three basic things:
  1. Subject information brokers like ChoicePoint to federal regulation 
by the Federal Trade Commission, and specifically, require such brokers 
to comply with a set of new fair information practice rules that the 
FTC would be required to issue within 6 months of enactment.
  2. The FTC rules that the bill mandates will require information 
brokers to better secure the information in their possession, grant 
consumers the right to obtain access to and correct information held by 
the broker, require information brokers to protect information from 
unauthorized users, and prohibit users of an information broker to 
obtain the information for impermissible or unlawful purposes.
  3. The bill's requirements will be enforceable through the FTC, which 
would be empowered to bring civil actions to punish and fine violators; 
the State Attorney's General, who could bring similar actions; and 
consumers, who would be empowered to bring a private right of action.
  My second bill, the ``Social Security Number Protection Act,'' would 
bring a halt to unregulated commerce in Social Security numbers. This 
bill would make it a crime for a person to sell or purchase Social 
Security numbers. Under the bill, the FTC would be given rulemaking 
authority to restrict the sale of Social Security numbers, determine 
appropriate exemptions, and to enforce civil compliance with the bill's 
restrictions. The bill would also authorize the States to enforce 
compliance, and provide for appropriate penalties.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House and the 
Senate to see to it that these two bills are enacted into law.

                          ____________________