New Identity Theft Law Imposes Responsibilities Upon Businesses and Lawyers
Texas, like many other states, has passed legislation designed to address the ever-growing problem of identity theft. The newly-added Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act (Chapter 48 of the Business and Commerce Code) requires businesses of all sizes to implement and maintain reasonable procedures to protect "sensitive personal information." Further, "[i]f an information security breach occurs, [businesses] must notify Texans whose sensitive personal information was, or was reasonably believed to be, acquired by an unauthorized person."
This new law has important implications in the context of litigation. When an adversary demands the production of documents and other things, a company must exercise care not to produce such information in a manner that would give rise to potential liability under the law.
All the more need for employers to offer the “Identity Theft Shield” to their staff. Imagine 5 key employees having their identities stolen and all together taking time off work to restore their names and credit!
Wouldn’t an employer prefer to have the experts take care of the situation and have the staff on the job?
I agree with the last comment. In our study of the problem too many business owners are not aware of the compliance issues and are not enforcing procedures to change the behavior of their employees.
Since Texas is the #4 of 50 ranking states for Identity Theft, with Dallas, Houston and San Antonio leading the United States top 10 cities, I have received great support from small business owners to fix the problem but large companies want to shield the problem with internal methods — none tested or proven to help them with mediation. The FACTA requires for reasonable mediation for each employee breach in the event of Identity Theft…big businesses are gambling the employee will not be smart enough to ask for what is appropriate under the law.
We appreciate your blog and encourage all business owners, to include HR Directors and Corporate Attorneys, especially in Texas, to protect their business with proactive solutions! Solutions provided by an Affirmative Defense Resonse System will keep the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) off of their backs. Today the FTC is the business as the IRS is to the tax payer, and business owners who understand this new outlook will be better to handle the future of Identity Theft in America!
I am a Certified, Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist based out of San Antonio, Texas with locations in North Carolina, New York and Washington DC.
Christopher C. Herring
Member of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce
[...] Texas, like many other states, has passed legislation designed to address the ever-growing problem of identity theft. The newly-added Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act (Chapter 48 of the Business and Commerce Code) requires … …more [...]