TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Law May Help Freeze ID Theft / 2003 Law Helps Californians

Law May Help Freeze ID Theft / 2003 Law Helps Californians

Monty Solomon (monty@roscom.com)
Sun, 24 Apr 2005 12:18:11 -0400

Law May Help Freeze ID Theft
A 2003 statute allows Californians to block access to their credit
reports. Few knew about it until the ChoicePoint scandal.

By David Colker and Rong-Gong Lin II
Times Staff Writers

California residents have the ultimate weapon against identity theft --
but few know it.

That may be changing, however, as a rash of security breaches putting
personal information at risk has heightened public concern about
privacy.

The weapon is a little-known California law -- the only one of its
kind in effect -- allowing residents to freeze access to their credit
reports. Such a step effectively prevents identity thieves from
opening unauthorized credit accounts in the names of their victims.

Inquiries about the law, which took effect in 2003, have risen
dramatically in the last few months, state officials said. And it has
generated attention across the country as well: This year, 22 states
considered legislation that allows consumers to freeze their credit
reports.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-credit23apr23,0,6012053.story

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