More ID Theft Protection Offered By State of Ohio

by Rick Kam

On July 24, 2007 the State of Ohio announces additional identity theft protection offered to help hearing impaired.

“The Ohio Department of Administrative Services announced Tuesday that it has contracted with Identity Safeguards, a respected national leader in identity protection and restoration services, to provide a one-year membership to the deaf community affected by the recent theft of a state accounting and financial system backup tape.”

Over 350 institutions have been in the news since ChoicePoint went public with their data breach in February 2005. Many public and private organizations have to comply with recent privacy notification laws. 36 States have enacted similar legislation today that require an organization to notify affected individuals if information they lose or is stolen may be misused. State and Federal legislators struggle with whether it is better to notify or not.

On side of the argument says that people will become complacent if they receive lots of notification letters — “over notification”. For example, if you are a VA, accountant, and have a B of A account, you could have received three notification letters last year. The other side says, it is better for you to know what happened so that you can assess your risk and take appropriate action to protect your identity. This is what we believe is most appropriate.

What do you think? Vote.