[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 68 (Friday, May 26, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E993]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 IDENTITY THEFT PROTECTION ACT OF 2006

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 25, 2006

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I am introduing a bill today that allows 
individuals to protect themselves from identity theft by controlling 
access to their credit report and information through a simple and low-
cost process.
  Under this bill, only those persons specifically authorized by the 
individual would have access to their credit report. This is the most 
effective tool we have to combat identity theft. A credit report freeze 
works because it actually stops the granting of new credit, unlike the 
lower standard of a fraud alert, which only conditions the granting of 
credit.
  This would not affect the use of credit cards or existing credit. It 
only prevents the issuance of new credit unless the individual requests 
the credit report be sent to the lender. This gives individuals control 
over their credit report and allows them to protect themselves.
  The bill that I am introducing is closely modeled on a bipartisan 
bill introduced in the Senate cosponsored by Senators McCain and 
Clinton, among others, and very closely similar to a bill introduced by 
Senator Shelby in the Banking Committee. It is supported by the 
National Association of Attorneys General and all the groups concerned 
about individual privacy protections.
  Many State laws give the right to freeze access to their credit 
report to everyone, but the data protection bills introduced to date 
addressing this issue would limit this right to proven victims of 
identity theft--those for whom the horse has already left the barn--and 
deny many whose data has been stolen the ability to prevent identity 
theft. Consumers would have to wait for harm to occur before they could 
prevent it. That makes no sense.
  I also believe that any Federal file freeze must be easy to use, 
convenient, low cost, and available to all consumers, and my bill 
provides that.
  I think that a national standard giving all individuals the ability 
to control access to their credit reports would create the market 
conditions for new security systems to develop to make the process of 
freezing and unfreezing even easier. Just as when eBay burst on the 
scene we had secure payments systems like PayPal spring up, so if file 
freeze becomes a national phenomenon, we will have entrepreneurs 
develop secure systems of freezing and unfreezing.
  I urge Members to support this legislation and give their 
constituents this moderate and sensible tool to protect themselves from 
identity theft.

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