[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 27, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1634]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               POSTAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND ENHANCEMENT ACT

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                               speech of

                           HON. DEBORAH PRYCE

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 26, 2005

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 22) to 
     reform the postal laws of the United States:

  Ms. PRYCE of Ohio. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this rule. As 
the Chairman knows, I filed an amendment with the Rules Committee to 
address important mailings to consumers containing notification of a 
data breach affecting personal information. While I withdrew my 
amendment, I was pleased to work with the Chairman of the Government 
Reform Committee to include report language regarding this significant 
issue. I thank both Chairmen for their hard work on this bill.
  Mr. Speaker I rise today to bring attention to the important issue of 
data security.
  Identity theft is the fastest-growing white collar crime in the 
United States. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that 10 million 
Americans fall victim to identity theft each year, costing consumers 
and businesses more than 55 billion dollars.
  Identity theft is the most frequent complaint to the FTC from all 50 
states, with the number of complaints having grown for the fourth 
consecutive year.
  What takes only seconds for a hacker to destroy can take years for 
companies and individuals to rebuild. A thief can jeopardize a person's 
financial security by opening new lines of credit or procuring 
unsecured loans under a person's name.
  Victims of identity theft spend an average of 90 hours of their own 
time and 1,700 dollars in out-of-pocket expenses clearing their credit 
and name
  The first line of defense in combating these reckless acts is to make 
the victims aware of what is taking place. If there is unauthorized 
access to sensitive financial information, the breached company needs 
to notify the potentially affected consumers, and make them aware that 
their data security may have been compromised.
  After an investigation determines whether or not the breached 
information will lead to misuse, the customer must be made aware. But 
with all the mail that Americans are besieged with on a daily basis, we 
must take steps to insure that consumers can differentiate between what 
is critical and what is not. For that reason, I feel that all notices 
should contain a heading that this is an ``IMPORTANT DATA BREACH 
NOTIFICATION.''
  By ensuring that consumers are aware of what is going on with their 
data security, we can help prevent millions of dollars a year in 
consumer costs and countless hours spent by innocent Americans who have 
been victimized by identity thieves.
  Labeling the envelopes will go far towards this goal, and I urge my 
colleagues to think about this common sense solution to a serious 
problem that can touch any American at any time.

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