[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 162 (Monday, August 21, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50707-50708]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-21186]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Public Workshop: Identity Theft Victim Assistance

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Initial notice requesting public comment and announcing public 
workshop.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Trade Commission (the ``FTC''), will hold a public 
workshop to identify relevant issues and examine potential solutions 
associated with assisting victims of identity theft. This Notice is 
also seeking public comments to inform the discussion that will take 
place at the workshop. This workshop will be the first in a series 
following the National Summit on Identity Theft last March. At that 
event, government, industry, and consumer advocates committed to work 
together to combat identity theft. Later sessions will be convened on 
the topics of law enforcement and prevention.

DATES: Written comments and requests to participate as a panelist in 
the workshop must be submitted on or before September 15, 2000. The 
workshop will be held on October 23, 2000, at the Federal Trade 
Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580.

ADDRESSES: Mail written comments to Secretary, Federal Trade 
Commission, Room H-159, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 
20580.

SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTS: Comments should be captioned ``Identity Theft 
Victim Assistance Workshop.'' To enable prompt review and public 
access, paper submissions should include three copies and a version on 
diskette in ASCII, WordPerfect, or Microsoft Word format. Diskettes 
should be labeled with the name of the party and the name and version 
of the word processing program used to create the document. As an 
alternative to paper submissions, you may email comments to: 
[email protected]. Messages to that address will receive a reply in 
acknowledgment. Comments submitted in electronic form should be in 
ASCII, WordPerfect (please specify version), or Microsoft Word (please 
specify version) format.
    Written comments will be available for public inspection in 
accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552 and 
Commission regulations, 16 CFR part 4.9 on normal business days between 
the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. at 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, 
Washington, DC 20580. The FTC will make this notice, and, to the extent 
possible, all papers or comments received in response to this notice 
available to the public through the Internet at www.ftc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joanna Crane, Federal Trade 
Commission, phone: (202) 326-3258, email: [email protected]; or Helen 
Foster, Federal Trade Commission, (202) 326-2343, email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Section A. Background

    The Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998 directed 
the Federal Trade Commission to implement a comprehensive program to 
educate consumers and businesses about the crime of identity theft and 
to assist identity theft victims. Consumer-victims of identity theft 
currently face multiple hurdles in preventing further misuse of their 
identifying information and in correcting damage done to their credit 
histories, reputations and lives by identity thieves. These consumers 
often spend many hours over the course of months calling and writing to 
creditors, credit bureaus, debt collectors and others in an attempt to 
undo the damage caused by identity theft. Their struggle is made all 
the more difficult by differing and cumbersome dispute processes used 
by multiple creditors, credit bureaus and law enforcement agencies.

Section B. Public Forum

    The Federal Trade Commission will hold a public workshop to examine 
existing consumer-victim assistance mechanisms and proposals for 
expanding and improving those processes. The workshop seeks to foster 
an open discussion of how industry, law enforcement, and government can 
work cooperatively to provide streamlined and coordinated assistance to 
consumer-victims of identity theft without unnecessarily burdening 
business. The workshop aims to explore consumer-victim assistance by 
creditors, consumer reporting agencies, debt collectors, and federal, 
state, and local government agencies. The Federal Trade Commission 
seeks a balanced discussion about how these entities might work 
together to assist consumer-victims of identity theft without 
sacrificing the accuracy or security of fraud investigations.
    Last March, the United States Department of the Treasury, in 
conjunction with the Federal Trade Commission and other federal 
agencies, convened a National Identity Theft Summit, which sought to 
facilitate an ongoing dialogue on how government and industry could 
work together to investigate and prosecute identity theft as well as 
remediate the impact of identity theft on victims. Many participants at 
the Summit agreed that uniformity in the processing of victim disputes 
was one method of minimizing the burden on consumer-victims of identity 
theft. These participants suggested that the adoption of a single 
consumer affidavit form that would be acceptable to multiple creditors 
and credit bureaus would reduce victims' burdens. Similarly, some 
participants advocated a system which would allow a consumer-victim to 
place a single call to have a fraud alert placed upon their credit 
report at all three of the major national consumer reporting agencies. 
This workshop will explore these initiatives, as well as additional or 
alternative methods of assisting consumer-victims of identity theft.
    To inform the FTC prior to the workshop, the agency seeks views and 
additional information on this subject from industry, consumer 
representatives, the academic community and the larger public in the 
United States, including views on the elements of fair and effective 
methods of assisting victims and repairing the damage caused by 
identity theft. Views are welcome on any aspect of this subject, though 
the following broad topics and possible subtopics are offered to help 
organize the comments:

Victim Assistance

    (1) Identity theft victim assistance by consumer reporting agencies 
or credit bureaus.
    (2) Identity theft victim assistance by banks, credit card issuers 
and other creditors, and debt collectors.
    (3) Identity theft victim assistance by the communications industry 
(including local and long-distance telephone carriers and cellular 
service providers).
    (4) Identity theft victim assistance by Internet e-merchants 
(including banks, credit card issuers, communications services 
providers and other creditors).
    (5) The handling of identity theft complaints by law enforcement 
agencies.

Remediation

    (6) Remediation of a fraudulent arrest/conviction record due to 
identity theft.

[[Page 50708]]

    (7) Remediation of a fraudulent bankruptcy due to identity theft.

Possible Subtopics

    (8) What can be done to respond to other harms (e.g., denial of 
employment, insurance, or mortgage) due to identity theft?
    (9) What are some ``best practices'' that have been adopted in the 
customer service area for identity theft victims?
    (10) How can the process by which identity theft victims clear 
their names be streamlined? Can the requirements be made more uniform? 
For example, is the use of a standardized fraud affidavit by creditors 
a possible solution? Is a centralized reporting process a practical 
option? Are there other ways to minimize the paperwork burden and/or 
the number of phone calls consumers have to make?
    (11) Would making the process of clearing one's name less 
burdensome on victims also facilitate fraud? How do we distinguish 
between victims and perpetrators?
    (12) How can we ensure that ``fraud alerts'' on credit reports are 
seen and honored by credit grantors, so as to reduce the likelihood of 
future harm to the victim?

Section C. Request To Participate

    The FTC invites members of the public, industry, and other 
interested parties to participate as a panelist in the workshop. To be 
eligible to participate, you must file a request to participate by 
September 15, 2000. If the number of parties who request to participate 
in the workshop is so large that including all requestors would inhibit 
effective discussion among participants, staff of the FTC will select 
as participants a limited number of parties to represent the relevant 
interests. Selection will be based on the following criteria:
    (1) The party submitted a request to participate by September 15, 
2000.
    (2) The party's participation would promote the representation of a 
balance of interests at the workshop.
    (3) The party's participation would promote the consideration and 
discussion of the issues presented in the workshop.
    (4) The party has expertise in issues raised in the workshop.
    (5) The party adequately reflects the view of the affected 
interests which it purports to represent.
    If it is necessary to limit the number of participants, those who 
requested to participate but were not selected will be afforded an 
opportunity, if at all possible, to present statements during a limited 
time period at the end of the session. The time allotted for these 
statements will be based on the amount of time necessary for discussion 
of the issues by the selected parties, and on the number of persons who 
wish to make statements. Requestors will be notified as soon as 
possible after September 15, 2000, if they have been selected to 
participate.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 00-21186 Filed 8-18-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P