ILLINOIS STATE GOVERNMENT SIGNS IN NEW LAWS PROTECTING CONSUMERS FROM IDENTITY THEFTChester Local News
June 17, 2005

New Laws Protecting Illinois Consumers From Identity Theft

After several high profile financial information security breaches across the nation, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today signed several pieces of legislation designed to safeguard consumers against identity theft. The bills the Governor signed not only place more stringent regulations on businesses, requiring them to quickly notify consumers of possible security breaches, but also increase the penalties against identity thieves and provide victims with the resources necessary to protect themselves from future violation. The cornerstone of the package, House Bill 1633, makes Illinois the second state in the nation to require companies to quickly notify consumers in the state if their personal information is compromised due to a breach in company security.

HB 1633 came in response to an October 2004 incident in which Georgia-based ChoicePoint, sold the personal information of more than 145,000 people, including 5,000 Illinoisans, to identity thieves who pretended to be legitimate businesses. Even though officials at ChoicePoint were aware of the breach, consumers weren’t notified of the situation until months later, when officials, prompted by an existing California law requiring the disclosure of any security breach which puts Californians’ personal information at risk, revealed the information. Other massive security breaches have earned attention recently: roughly 1.5 million DSW Shoe Warehouse customers’ financial information were compromised in April; tapes containing information about 3.9 million CitiFinancial customers were reported missing earlier this month; and just last week Motorola disclosed that computers were stolen that containing the social security numbers of potentially thousands of employees.

House Bill 1633 becomes effective January 1, 2006.