Re: Looking for additional ideas or suggestions for victims of identity theft

[Robert <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert>]

 > From: Flora  <http://www.gmail.com/~flora>
 > Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2016 20:10:16 -0500
 >
 > My congressman's office called me when I was home sick the week before last
 > to ask for my thoughts and suggestions in regards to identity theft. Of
 > course, I could only think of having credit freezes be the default. I
 > couldn't think of anything else at the time. They asked if I would contact
 > them again if I had any more ideas. I received another call today - a phone
 > message was left on my answering machine.
 > 
 > I had given some ideas in my previous letters, but maybe they are looking
 > for something more concrete and/or something that can be put through
 > legislation.
 > 
 > Below are my ideas. Let me know if you have any additional thoughts or
 > changes that should be made to my below list - perhaps to make them more
 > concrete. What specific laws could be enacted to protect individuals? Even
 > though it was Congressman Peter Welch's office that contacted me, I'm going
 > to send my list to Senator Patrick Leahy and Senator Bernie Sanders.
 > 
 > My ideas:
 > 
 > -greater identity verification when requesting a password or pin reset over
 > the telephone

Each company should be required to offer security questions which never
overlap with another company's security questions.

 > -stiff penalties for businesses, institutions, and organizations that allow
 > an impostor to change a password, pin, or other form of verification
 > -stiff penalties for businesses, institutions, and organizations if they
 > fail to maintain personal information (security breach)

Also: companies that maintain or retain personal information be liable via
the courts.  I.e., exclude arbitration clauses from identity theft.

 > -credit freeze is the default (at no cost to the consumer) and if someone
 > wants their credit freeze lifted, this is paid for by the three credit
 > reporting agencies

I'd also ask that the government require that credit score calculations be
open-sourced rather than proprietary.

 > -consumer approval/disapproval of all credit report requests
 > -credit reporting agencies must report any credit report changes to the
 > consumer
 > -the ability for consumers to easily contest inaccurate information on
 > their credit reports

I would use the word "correct" rather "contest inaccurate".

 > -free credit reports for consumers where the only limitation is proper
 > identity verification (no more limit of one credit per year, instead
 > unlimited)
 > -bottom line, businesses, institutions, and organizations need to do a
 > better job of protecting our personal information and they need to be held
 > accountable
 > -free legal counsel for any victim of identity theft or security breach
 > -free subpoena for any victim of identity theft or security breach to
 > request any and all information related to their identity theft or security
 > breach
 > -victim compensation for any identity theft or security breach - whether or
 > not the victim had any out of pocket expenses - this would be paid for by
 > the three credit reporting agencies and people search companies
 >
 > Thanks for any ideas!

Why not ask to ban social security numbers as a form of ID?