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Rep. Mike McGeehan, D-Phila The state House Commerce Committee on Wednesday voted to send to the full House a measure I sponsored that would close the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth as a virtual gold mine for potential identity thieves. The Department of State is the repository for required organizational and financial documents for more than 1.5 million for-profit and nonprofit corporations authorized to do business in the Commonwealth. My bill, (HB1918) would require that before any financial statement is released to the public, that Social Security numbers on the documents be made illegible. Once those documents leave the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office, there's virtually no control over who gets access to the information listed. That information can include Social Security numbers, and once an identity thief gets his paws on a Social Security number, he can suck thousands of dollars from an individual's accounts, and the victim has to deal with a mountain of red tape to try to restore his or her credit record. The Department of State is working to eliminate the revelation of Social Security numbers through internal policy procedures, but confidentiality is so vital that it should be put into law to ensure that the protection remains consistent, rather than simply relying on internal policies that could change as new administrations and new secretaries of the department transition in the years ahead. In addition, the my bill would mandate that if a Social Security number is released by the filing office, the office would have to pay $100 for each person to whom the number is disclosed. The measure is part of a package of bills I have been fighting for that would better protect consumers from identity theft and more harshly penalize I.D. thieves. CapNews Guest Speaker: Archives |
