TEXAS GOVERNMENT TO COMBAT IDENTITY THEFT Austin American-Statesman | The Secrecy File

Senator secretly holds effort to combat identity theft

By Rebecca Carr | Tuesday, November 13, 2007, 03:00 PM

Look out. Here comes another senatorial smoke out. Some mysterious senator has placed a secret hold on legislation that would crack down on identity thieves.

The legislation, introduced by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., would give identity theft victims a chance to seek restitution in federal court for the loss of time and money spent restoring their credit. It would address lax data security and inadequate breach notification. Leahy was so incensed that a
fellow senator had invoked a parliamentary measure to indefinitely delay passage of the bill that he went to the floor today to get the culprit to surface or at least say why he or she is opposed to a bill with wide bipartisan support.

“I am disappointed that some senator is preventing the Senate from taking an important step forward to combat identity theft and to protect the privacy rights of all Americans by passing the Leahy-Specter Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act of 2007,” Leahy said.

All of the Democrats have cleared the measure for passage, Leahy said, so which Republican is holding it up?

The bipartisan measure, supported by the Justice Department, would provide new tools to federal prosecutors to combat identity theft and other computer crimes.Â

The bill would expand the scope of the federal identity theft statute so that the law keeps up with the ingenuity identity thieves, Leahy said.

The measure adds three new crimes—passing counterfeit securities, mail theft, and tax fraud - to the list of offenses for aggravated identity theft. Â And the measure increases the criminal penalties.Â

“The dangers of identity theft and other cyber crimes continue to increase as our nation becomes more dependent on high technology,” Leahy said.

This bill has strong bipartisan support.

And the measure is upported by a broad coalition of business, high tech and consumer groups, including Microsoft, Consumers Union, the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, the Business Software Alliance, AARP and the Chamber of Commerce.Â