LaTourette Syndrome

Definition - A rare, yet persistent disorder characterized by the continuous co-sponsoring of legislation that only a complete jackass could deem sane.

You may recall the ChoicePoint debacle last year in which they lost information of 163,000 customers to identity thieves. Well, Ohio's own Steve LaTourette has come up with a solution to these problems. Companies that lose your personal information to ID thieves will no longer be compelled to tell you about it. Hey if you don't know about it, it can't cause you harm, right?

The only reason ChoicePoint had to disclose the loss was because they do business in California, which has very strict disclosure laws that virtually every credit company has to follow if they want to do business in that lucrative market. Not to worry, Latourette's bill (HR 3997) will strip the rights of states to enforce stricter legislation.

Latourette says that we need this legislation because, "Even the simplest process of buying groceries with your credit or debit card will break down if we allow a patchwork of competing and conflicting state laws," quite the states-righter, that republican. Apparently, LaTourette doesn't do the grocery shopping in his household. We currently have such a patchwork of state laws, but maybe he thinks his wife just steals their groceries as the market has turned into a free for all with nobody able to find a way to remit payment. I'd find another place to shop.

Anyway, you might just think the hell with it, I'm going to just go ahead and put a security freeze to stop anyone from opening any new lines of credit in my name. Whoa, slow down there. Latourette's bill will prevent you from doing that unless your identity has already been stolen. That's right, not until after your credit information has been compromised are you allowed to do anything to prevent it. Even then you will need to file a police report before you can do anything.

Since the ID theft is unlikely to occur within the state you live in, I guess this would be a matter for the FBI. Maybe LaTourette is thinking that if the feds are burdened down filling out these reports it's less time they have to investigate House republicans.

Sounds pretty dumb, right? Well, it gets worse. If your identity gets stolen, and you file a police report, and you manage to keep the theft from continuing, you have little recourse against the company that lost your information. The bill offers a safe harbor clause to credit reporters that shields them from punitive damages, allowing you to only recover "direct pecuniary loss or loss pursuant to agreement by the consumer reporter," or in other words, the amount of your loss. No money for your time or hassle involved in correcting the problem will be paid, credit reporting agencies just get off the hook.

I really hope Lewis Katz shows this jackass the door.

Found via RNinNC's diary on Kos