Monday, February 12, 2007

Vermont Senate delegation proposes Cyber Security Breach legislation

Having had my credit card replaced recently over security breaches, this is a welcome piece of legislation from Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy:

Can the Democrat-controlled Congress achieve more progress on protecting privacy and in dictating how companies respond to data breaches than the last Republican-led one was?

Legislation introduced last week by Vermont Senators Patrick Leahy(D) and Bernie Sanders(I) would, if passed, require companies to notify law enforcement authorities and the individuals affected when data breaches involve personal information. It also would require companies and the government to establish controls to protect people's privacy.

For data brokers, it would force them to let individuals access their personal information and correct inaccuracies. For the government, it would require audits of agency contracts with data brokers and impose penalties on contractors that fail to meet privacy and security standards.

Senator Leahy said that data privacy is a priority because Americans' "most sensitive personal information can be accessed and sold to the highest bidder, with just a few keystrokes on a computer".

Hopefully this legislation will receive speedy passage.

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