Massachusetts House Passes Identity Theft, Credit Freeze Bill

The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a comprehensive identity theft protection bill today that gives consumers the ability to “freeze” their credit reports to stop would-be thieves from opening credit in their name, and requires businesses and government agencies to notify consumers if enough of their personal information that could be used to commit identity theft is lost or stolen.

“This is a great victory for Massachusetts consumers,” said MASSPIRG Consumer Advocate Eric Bourassa. “This law will go a long way in decreasing the problem of identity theft.”

Since 2000, dozens of states across the country have passed Security Breach Notification requirement and Credit Report Security Freeze laws, both of which are at the heart of the legislation. House members working on the bill include Representative Michael Rodrigues, Chair of the Consumer Protection Committee, and Representatives William Straus and Michael Costello.

Key parts of the bill include:

• Breach Notification —requires commercial entities and government agencies to notify affected consumers if enough of their personal information to commit identity theft has been acquired by an unauthorized person or for an unauthorized purpose.
• Credit Report Security Freeze —enables consumers to “lock” their credit report, preventing would be ID thieves from taking out credit in their name.
• Disposal of Personal Information —sets minimum standard for disposing data that contains enough personal information about a consumer that it could be used to commit identity theft.
• Police Reports —allows victims of ID theft to get a copy of their police report from any law enforcement office, even if crime did not occur in that jurisdiction (in a different city or state). Victims need a copy of their police report to clean up the financial mess resulting from identity theft and to qualify for a free security freeze.

Good parts of the bill includes a low $5 fee for placing or lifting the security freeze and language that gives regulatory authority to the Office of Consumer Affairs to change the law overtime as the technology involving identity theft changes over time.