Individuals should still guard against ID theft

THE ISSUE Governor Lingle has signed into law seven bills aimed at protecting residents from identity theft.

COMPANIES and government agencies will come under new requirements next year to protect people from identity theft, a growing menace in Hawaii. Individuals need to take their own precautions to avoid being victimized.

Perhaps the most important identity-theft measure signed into law by Governor Lingle requires businesses and the government to take reasonable measures when storing and disposing of personal information, such as Social Security numbers. Those measures include destroying papers or erasing computer records containing the information.

Residents need to take similar precautions to assure their own protection. Police say identity theft occurs at brick-and-mortar sources -- credit card receipts and bills taken from trash barrels, mailboxes and gutters.

Honolulu police receive about 400 identity theft complaints a month. The Federal Trade Commission says more than twice that many people typically don't both to report to police that their identities have been stolen.

Also taking effect next Jan. 1 is a requirement that businesses and government notify consumers if their personal information has been compromised by an unauthorized disclosure. It also further restricts their use of Social Security numbers. The state stopped using those numbers on driver's licenses in 2001, so all licenses will contain different numbers by the end of this year's renewals.

Another new law will allow victims of identity theft to place a "security freeze" on their reports, prohibiting credit reporting agencies from releasing information without the consumer's consent. Up to 30 percent of victims have continued to be victimized after invoking a federally required "fraud alert."

Other bills, effective immediately, give law-enforcement agencies more flexibility in investigating identity fraud by unsolicited e-mail and prosecuting a person for using a computer to commit identity theft. They also increase identity theft from a misdemeanor to a Class C felony carrying penalties of as much as $10,000 in fines and a five-year prison term.