New Laws Further Protect New York Consumers from Becoming Victims of Identity Theft

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http://www.state.ny.us/governor/press/06/0926061.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 26, 2006

GOVERNOR SIGNS NEW LAWS TO PROTECT NEW YORKERS AGAINST IDENTITY THEFT

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New Laws Further Protect New York Consumers from 
Becoming Victims of Identity Theft

Governor George E. Pataki announced today that he 
signed three measures into law that will further 
protect New York’s consumers and their privacy. 
These bills establish the Consumer Communication 
Records Privacy Act, place limits on the use and 
disclosure of Social Security account numbers, 
and further clarify and define what is considered a computer crime.

“These important new laws are yet another step 
towards ensuring that New York consumers do not 
fall victim to identity theft,” Governor Pataki 
said. “As criminals continue to come up with new 
schemes to steal consumer’s personal information, 
we must enact stronger laws that ensure the 
safety and privacy of our consumers and protect 
them from identity theft. These three laws 
address the needs of our consumers and their 
families, while continuing to demonstrate that 
New York remains a leader in the fight against identity theft."

Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno said, “The 
Senate has always made it a priority to protect 
consumers from identity theft and do everything 
we can to strengthen and update our laws to 
protect people’s personal information from theft 
and abuse. With these three new laws, sponsored 
by Senators Charles Fuschillo, Tom Morahan and 
Jim Wright, we are strengthening and updating our 
laws to further protect consumers.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said, “Identity 
theft is a growing problem with severe 
consequences. Victims face significant financial 
losses and complicated credit problems that could 
take years to correct. These measures continue 
our on-going efforts to protect consumers and 
increase penalties for offenders.”

Teresa A. Santiago, Chairperson and Executive 
Director of the New York State Consumer 
Protection Board, said, “These new laws will give 
New Yorkers -- and New York law enforcement 
agencies -- an enormous amount of help in 
fighting Identity Theft, as well as malicious 
attacks on home computers. We encourage all New 
Yorkers to take advantage of these new laws by 
filing complaints and letting the authorities 
know when there are violations of these laws.”

Consumer Communication Records Privacy Act

The Consumer Communication Records Privacy Act, 
sponsored by Senator Charles Fuschillo and 
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (S.6723/A.12033), 
protects consumers by prohibiting the sale, 
fraudulent transfer, or solicitation of a 
consumers telephone records without consent from 
the consumer. This information is confidential 
and protected by both telephone companies and 
telephone consumers, and unauthorized release of 
telephone records harms consumers by taking away 
their sense of privacy, safety and security.

Senator Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr., Chairman of 
the Senate's Consumer Protection Committee, said, 
“The fact that someone could so easily invade the 
privacy of another by obtaining their phone 
records was so offensive that we needed to act. 
This new law will prevent the distribution of 
one's calls without their consent.”

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said, “Until the 
signing of this bill, one’s cell phone logs could 
be sold by unscrupulous individuals. This bill 
would close that loophole in the law and provide 
important protections for cell phone users in New York.”

Protecting Social Security Numbers

To guard against the potential misuse of Social 
Security account numbers (SSN), Senator Thomas 
Morahan and Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer 
sponsored a bill (S.6909C/A.10076D) that will 
enact a new law placing limits on the use and 
dissemination of this information. Specifically, the new law:
   * prohibits the intentional communication of 
an individual’s SSN to the general public;
   * restrict businesses’ ability to print an 
individual’s SSN on mailings or on any card or 
tag required to access products, services, or benefits;
   * prohibit businesses from requiring an 
individual to transmit his or her encrypted SSN over the Internet; and
   * Require businesses that possess SSNs to 
implement appropriate safeguards and limit 
unnecessary employee access to SSNs.

Senator Thomas Morahan said, “An individual's 
Social Security number is the key to enormous 
access to their personal and financial 
information and this new law will put in place 
new limits and protections to ensure that number 
does not fall into the wrong hands.”

Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer said, “The Assembly, 
and in particular the Consumer Protections 
Committee, has made enacting meaningful identity 
theft measures a top consumer priority. As part 
of our ongoing efforts, the committee last year 
held hearings on regulating the use of Social 
Security numbers by private businesses and state 
agencies. This review was instrumental in 
crafting this new law in order to protect 
residents from unauthorized use of personal information and identity theft.”

Strengthened Laws for Computer Crimes

As consumers become more heavily reliant on 
computers to accomplish everyday tasks such as 
paying bills, and online-shopping, it is 
important to ensure that laws are in place to 
protect these consumers from computer-based 
fraud. A new measure, sponsored by Assemblyman 
Richard Brodsky and Senator James Wright 
(A.891F/S.5005F), keeps up with continually 
evolving computer technology by further defining 
and clarifying New York State’s Penal Law as it 
pertains to the unauthorized use of computers. 
This measure strengthens existing law to allow 
for the prosecution of those who intentionally 
disrupt, steal personal information, and plant 
malicious programs on consumer’s computers without authorization.

Senator James Wright said, “Computer technology 
is constantly evolving, making everyday tasks 
more convenient, but the changes in technology 
also place us at risk for identity theft and 
fraud. This law makes it easier to prosecute 
those who intentionally commit these crimes and to protect consumers.”

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky said, “This law – the 
first anti-spyware law in New York – is a way to 
prosecute those who dump thousands of malicious 
spyware, adware and other viruses onto people’s 
computers. Thieves no longer have to break into 
one’s home to steal vital information; they can 
do it remotely with the same devastating results. 
We have an obligation to do everything we can to 
stop thieves from invading people’s computers and prosecuting those who do.”

Existing Identity Theft Protection

These new identity theft laws build upon existing 
laws that are designed to safeguard consumers 
from identity theft schemes. Earlier this year, 
the Governor signed into a law, a comprehensive 
set of measures allowing consumers to proactively 
defend themselves against identity thieves, 
require businesses to properly discard documents 
and records containing personal information, and 
prohibit individuals from deceptively soliciting 
sensitive information from Internet users.

The Security Freeze Law allows consumers, who are 
either identity theft victims or are concerned 
that they might be at risk of having their 
identities stolen, to cut off an identity thief's 
access to credit, loans, leases, goods and 
services by placing a “freeze” on their consumer credit report.

The Disposal of Personal Records Law requires any 
business to properly dispose of records 
containing personal information through one of 
the following means: shredding, destruction, 
modification, or other reasonable action to 
ensure that no unauthorized person will have 
access to the personal information. This law will 
ensure that disposed records containing personal 
information are not a source that thieves rely upon to commit identity theft.

The Anti-Phishing Act of 2006 prohibits the 
deceptive solicitation of personal information 
through electronic communications. Phishing is 
the act of sending an e-mail to an Internet user, 
falsely claiming to be an established legitimate 
enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into 
surrendering private information that will be 
used for identity theft. The scammer lures the 
potential victim out of a sea of internet users 
for passwords and financial data. “Phishing” 
accounts for nearly 25% of all Internet fraud.

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