Georgia attorney general urges federal law to protect personal ID online
KATE BRUMBACK
Associated Press

ATLANTA - Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker said on June 6, 2006 that he would urge Congress to increase protection of personal information on the Internet.

Baker, who will become president of the National Association of Attorneys General at the end of this month, said he and his counterparts in other states want federal legislation requiring that consumers be notified when their personal information, held in corporate databases, falls into the wrong hands.

Speaking at a town hall discussion at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center, Baker said high-profile data breaches over the past two years have eroded public confidence in the security of online transactions.

"If society doesn't trust the Internet to guard their financial information, will they continue to use the Internet to conduct business and their personal affairs?" Baker asked the crowd of about 150 people from the technology, business, law enforcement and academic communities.

A survey sponsored by the Cyber Security Industry Alliance at the end of April found that only 44 percent of Americans believe their information is safe when shopping or banking online, and 50 percent avoid making purchases online because of fear that their financial information will be stolen.

In 2002, Georgia became the third state to enact a comprehensive identity theft statute.

"We are, quite frankly, sending a message here in Georgia that we simply won't put up with it," Baker said, adding that many states have since adopted similar laws.

Georgia has been host to a number of highly publicized data breach problems in the last several years. They involved Alpharetta-based ChoicePoint Inc., whose massive database of consumer information was accessed by thieves in 2004, and CardSystems, which allowed the accounts of 40 million credit card holders to be compromised in June 2005.

Security of personal information on the internet is not a new issue for the National Association of Attorneys General.

In October, 48 attorneys general, including Baker, submitted a letter to Congress requesting legislation that would require security breach notification, include security freeze provisions, enable state attorneys general to enforce federal legislation in this area and not pre-empt states' power to enact and enforce security breach notifications and security freeze laws.

Following Baker's speech, members of a five-person panel agreed that businesses also need to take more steps to improve the security of personal information on the internet.