ID Theft, Protection, And Restoration

Nothing gets my dander up more than reading about the lobbyists for AT&T, Verizon, Microsoft, and LexisNexis dis-emboweling the latest attempt by the Indiana legislature to protect their residents from Identity Theft. Whoever heard of a bill passing any state or federal legislature with only 17 lines of text? This should be in the Guiness World Book of Records not only for its brevity, but for the absolute assinine thinking that went with it.

“The requirement that companies notify the state attorney general whenever a data breach is discovered were stripped. A section of the bill that created incentives for companies to follow encryption and key management practices “in a manner consistent with the best practices common in the industry” was also removed. ”

Why would two public utilities, a huge software company broken up by anti-trust legislation and another company “committed to safeguarding personal information” not want tougher ID Theft laws?

My theory is that the big boys don’t want to part with their big money by assuming any financial responsibility for data breaches from their companies. They don’t want to see class action lawsuits happen to them, like what’s happening with TJMaxx.

Where does that leave you? You have to take care of yourself, period, end of discussion. Identity Theft cannot be prevented, but it can be detected in the very early stages so you can keep the damage down to a minimum and not become so overwhelming that it takes over your life.

Here’s a nightmare for one gentleman who never lived in Indiana, but magically had a suspended driver’s license there. The Governor’s Chief Counsel wrote Paul Jones a letter stating: “There appear to be as many as two other persons impersonating you using Indiana identification cards, and we remain committed to detecting and arresting them.”

What’s really laughable is the Governor’s office felt that Mr. Jones was threatening the state’s public employees so Chief Counsel for the Governor’s office told Mr. Jones in writing that if his future communication attempts with them were construed as harassing or threatening, he would be prosecuted. Just leave it to an attorney to turn the tables on the victim.

Unfortunately, it may only be a matter of time before it happens to this gentleman again. The criminal most times will go “dark” and start all over again in 6 months to a year. Identity Theft is spreading like the bubonic plague of yesteryear. It is touching so many lives in a very negative way undermining every U. S. citizen’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It’s maddening, frustrating, and takes a whole lot of time to resolve.

So, residents of Indiana, or people who have ID Theft issues in Indiana, if you’re willing to go to the mat like Paul Jones, go for it. However, if you’d like someone else to take care of detecting when your identity is being misused, if you’d like for someone else to handle the cleanup of an identity theft situation for you, then fight back, and listen to this.

My heart goes out to all residents as well as Identity Theft victims caught up in the State of Indiana ID Theft debacle. Obviously Indiana legislators just don’t care about you. They’re too busy schmoozing with the lobbyists and big business to even think about the repercussions of their lack of an ID Theft bill with real teeth in it and a willingness to help the victims.

Your Identity Protector,
Nancy Dewitz

Nancy Dewitz is co-founder of BTR Security with personal Identity Theft solutions tailored to consumers’ specific needs. She and her partner Robert Listerman are authors of the ebook “The Many Faces of Identity Theft.” They are consumer advocates and creators of individualized Identity Protection programs that give you and your family the options needed to keep your life intact.

If you have an Identity Theft story or experience that you’d like to share and become part of our upcoming book, please let us know. We’d love to hear all about it.