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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 9, 2005 SCHUMER: NEW IDENTITY THEFT CASES APPROACH EPIDEMIC LEVELS,
CONGRESS MUST ACT SOON TO BOLSTER PRIVACY PROTECTIONS Today US Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) released the following statement reacting to news reports that DSW, a shoe retailer based in Ohio is currently undergoing an investigation into credit card fraud; and Lexis-Nexis, an information conglomerate, also based in Ohio has undertaken an internal investigation into account fraud that may have led to massive identity theft. Schumer has recently called on Westlaw, another information conglomerate, to plug its security holes allowing clients without controls to search for individual Social Security numbers and other personal information. As a result of Schumer’s letters and repeated public calls for better controls on who can have access to Westlaw’s sensitive information searches, Lexis Nexis met with Schumer’s staff and said they planned to undertake a review of its own processes and subsidiaries. According to Lexis-Nexis today, they found similar security holes in their subsidiary’s security systems. Schumer said, “While ChoicePoint’s recent breach of security has been one of the biggest cases of ID theft in the country, ID theft is popping up everyday at other companies who have similarly lacked the proper security to guard people’s personal information. The new rise in identity theft cases nationwide is approaching epidemic proportions and Congress must act quickly to bolster privacy protections.” “ChoicePoint has become a rallying point for consumer advocates
in the Congress to do something substantial about the weak national
laws to protect Americans’ privacy. These new incidents of
identity theft through stolen credit card information at DSW, and
through account fraud at Lexis Nexis should force Congress to act
soon to bolster our pitiful privacy protections for consumers,”
Schumer concluded. |
