SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA STATE IDENTITY THEFT LAW DISCUSSION SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro -- ID-theft law puts focus on Net dataCalifornia, which has the third-highest per-capita rate of identity theft in the nation, has not officially tracked the number of cases in which security breaches have occurred. However, Givens said she has heard of about half a dozen cases when notification letters were sent since the law became effective in July.

In some cases, the breach occurred when a laptop computer or other equipment was stolen, rather than as a result of a computer hacker.

"Prior to this law we rarely heard of these situations because notice was not required," Givens said. "For the most part, I think the law is doing a good job."

In the incident involving the state agency, California's Employment Development Department sent letters in mid-February to individuals whose names were in a database stored on a computer server infiltrated by a hacker. The server was used in a pilot program that gave employers of household workers such as nannies, gardeners, cooks and baby sitters the ability to report wage information over the Internet.

Officials have said the hacker used the server to send commercial e-mail messages, known as spam, and there was no evidence that any personal information was accessed. However, officials decided to send the letters anyway.

"We felt it was important to move forth and notify people, and they could choose to take action if they needed to," said Loree Levy, a spokeswoman with the Employment Development Department.