Big Steps Forward - But a Long Way to Go

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but one more look at the past year's successes and failures in California on the issue of identity theft is in order. Who better to give some context and perspective on the year that was than consumer champion Dave Jones (D-Assembly), who authored three identity theft protection bills that made it to the Governor's desk (2 signed, 1 vetoed).

Read the Assemblyman's editorial in the California Progress Report:

Early this year my staff logged onto the Secretary of State’s website, entered some credit card information, and purchased the social security numbers of two of the most successful businessmen in Sacramento. For $6 each.

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It’s now common knowledge that the SSN is the backbone of ID theft; it props up the entire $53 billion-per-year criminal venture...That’s why I’m very pleased that over the last weekend Governor Schwarzenegger signed my bill, AB 1168, into law. Under AB 1168, the Franchise Tax Board, the Secretary of State, and all 58 county recorders would have to truncate SSNs in records they hold so that no more than the last 4 digits are displayed to the public.

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Unfortunately, my highest profile privacy bill, AB 779, was vetoed by the Governor on October 13th. AB 779 would have required retailers and government to better protect their customers’ personal information that far too often is left open for hackers and ID thieves to pilfer as part of massive data breaches. In addition to avoiding future data breaches the bill would have better informed consumers after a breach takes place and made retailers and government partially responsible for the financial costs of data breaches. This space had previously written about AB 779 as it was moving through the Legislature.

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However, the story behind the AB 779 veto is a simple one. Special business interests won over the public interest. Despite our broad coalition and overwhelming bipartisan support, numerous business interests, led by the California Retailers Association, the California Bankers Association, and the California Chamber of Commerce all urged a veto. So despite evidence showing 1) that only 40% of the nation’s largest retail chains are following current private data security rules, 2) that credit card fraud linked to data breaches is at an all-time high and 3) that the American Bankers Association and other state banking associations have either strenuously criticized retailer security or sued following major data breaches, the Governor acted as if the marketplace was working swimmingly and vetoed my bill. I’m obviously disappointed but remain unbowed, as I know that in the long run we will emerge victorious on this issue.

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