Maryland lawmakers have approved a first-of-its-kind measure to enable parents to protect their children from having their credit damaged by identity theft. The measure, which a spokeswoman for Gov. Martin O’Malley says he is likely to sign, will allow parents to take the step of freezing their child’s credit at any time. Read more from…
Category: State/Local
Final phase of Mass. data protection law kicks in March 1
Jaikumar Vijayan reports: All companies storing personal data on Massachusetts residents have just over a month to ensure that their contractors, suppliers, technology providers and other third parties comply with a provision of a state data breach law that went into effect in March 2010. The law (download PDF) is designed to ensure that companies holding data…
Pa. Senate OKs bill requiring heads up on data breaches
The Pennsylvania Senate has unanimously passed legislation that would require state and local government agencies to notify the public of data breaches involving personal information within one week. Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi said he drafted the measure, Senate Bill 162, after three separate thefts of state-owned computers with personal information. Pileggi said that even though…
Is Texas the New Federal Government? Nationwide Breach Notification Law Signed by Governor Perry Suggests So
Jake Sommer writes: Texas has never been known as a state that loves to regulate and its current governor has made a name for himself by being staunchly anti-regulation, but its recent Texas Security Breach Bill (HB 300), contains a sneaky provision that turns the Texas Attorney General into one of the nation’s most powerful…
Illinois Amends Breach Notice Law to Specify Notice Content, Cooperation
Brendon Tavelli writes: On August 22, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed House Bill 3025 into law. In doing so, he aligned Illinois with a small group of states responding to increased concern about privacy and information security by retooling their existing information security breach notification frameworks. HB3025, in particular, amends the state’s breach notification law to specify…
We have a right to information on data security breaches
David Lazarus writes: Sam Greyson was surprised to receive a new credit card the other day from Bank of America. He was also surprised to learn that the bank had changed his account number because of a security breach involving another business. But the thing that surprised Greyson most was that when he called BofA…