TrustMeSecurity.com

A pro-consumer ID Theft bill was recently co-written by a tech-savvy legislator and Chris Soghoian a blogger, focusing on providing strong incentives for businesses to encrypt private and confidential consumer data, and requiring businesses to post data breech reports online to notify their customer base. (it requires more than this, but this is what interested me)

Before this bill even left committee it was reduced from 72 lines to a paltry 17, however the stipulation that confidential and private information remains encrypted survived the decimation.

The bill sailed through the House of Representatives a few weeks ago, passing 94-0, and Chris had to drive up to Washington to testify in front of a Senate Committee. Several powerful lobbyists representing the interests of various technology giants tried to have this bill thrown out for their own reasons. They stated,

“The lobbyists claimed that consumers could be easily confused by online breach reports, that such reports could be misused by evil phishers and fraudsters as a way of adding authenticity to their attacks, and finally that the reports could act as an unfair scarlet letter for companies that make mild data-breach mistakes.”

Their point was valid, and that any bill that does get passed should take in to considerations the businesses it will affect as much as their customers.

In the end, the bill passed, kudos to Chris and all those who worked hard to make this happen. While he didn’t get everything he wanted, he started the ball rolling, with something on the books now in Indiana, perhaps businesses will begin to take a more proactive stance towards securing their information, rather than waiting until after an unintended data breach affects them.

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