John Kerry Bill to Protect Veterans from Identity Theft

[_dynamicdems]

Our hard-working United States Senator strikes again. He's right on top of every issue. And once again, he's right there for Veterans.

Bravo, once again, Senator Kerry!

John Kerry Fights to Protect Veterans from Identity Theft

Kerry bill will provide free credit monitoring for veterans affected by stolen data


Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) has introduced the Veterans Identity Protection Act of 2006, legislation that will provide free credit monitoring for all United States military veterans who have been affected by the recent theft of personal data.


The personal information – including birth date and social security number – of approximately 26.5 million veterans was recently stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs staffer who had taken the records out of the office inappropriately.


“Clearly the security at the Department of Veterans Affairs needs to be tightened up in a big way,” Kerry added. “This breach should not have happened in the first place, and someone needs to be fired for it. Veterans Affairs is supposed to be there to protect and help our veterans, not compromise their privacy.”


Kerry’s bill will offer free credit monitoring for one year for every American affected by the theft. Credit monitoring on average costs between $50.00 to $150.00 per person each year. Kerry’s bill will also provide a second free credit report to each veteran for the second and third years of the act, in addition to the free credit report available under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.


“I’m deeply concerned that this theft happened May 3 and 26 million veterans are only finding out about it now. This stolen data is personal and private and there are grave implications if this information has gotten into the wrong hands,” said Kerry. “We need to protect these veterans and their spouses immediately, and offering this free credit monitoring will help make sure they don’t become the victims of identify theft. It’s the very least we can do.”

[LaurenG]

1. Thank goodness!

My husband was supposedly one of those affected and we really don't need the trauma.

[_dynamicdems]

9. It's scary.

I watched something on the news the other day about the people who perpetuate identity theft. It's run like a freaking business. It's coordinated and widespread. The last thing our Vets need to worry about is having their identies stolen.

[globalvillage]

19. Good luck, OB!

Please make sure your credit is monitored.

[blm]

2. He has an advantage - he put out alot of detailed policies throughout his

career and beefed them up during the campaign, so he covered alot of ground.

If media had chosen to REPORT on all these issues, the public wouldn't be so blindsided all the time when any issue comes up that needs attention.

Like when port security appeared out of the blue - except Kerry had been talking about it for 4 years by then.

[blondeatlast]

3. Go ahead, ya R bullies, vote this one down.

I DOUBLE-DOG DARE YA!

[babylonsister]

4. Recommend. I know a lot of concerned people, us included.

:grr: :nuke:

[speedoo]

5. Swift Boat THAT, John O'Neill, you traitor.

Where is that "truth-telling" champion of what's right for America when veterans need him?

Probably drunk, somewhere, getting ready to go to hell, where he belongs.

[_dynamicdems]

10. LOL!

O'Neill does have that bloated drunk look about him, no?

[ginnyinWI]

6. k&r This needs to be seen! vote it up! n/t

[Deb]

7. Thank God for Sen Kerry

This theft has really been weighing on us.

[_dynamicdems]

11. It's just horrible.

Something has to be done!

That's why I'm such a strong supporter of Senator Kerry. He's fighting for everybody. He's not just there for one or two signature issues, he's all across the board like a Liberal Avenger!

He makes me tired just thinking about the schedule he keeps.

[politicasista]

8. Kick and highly recommend!

:kick: Glad Kerry is calling attention to this issue. Just shameful. :grr:

[midnight]

12. Years that were stolen?

I heard second hand today that it was from 1975 up to now. Can anyone confirm?

[MH1]

13. You go, Kerry!!! Damn I was just thinking about this today.

I was talking to someone about this and we were saying, what the hell are we supposed to do? How to we protect ourselves from identity theft now?

Kerry's bill is a pretty good first step.

My only concern is that if the data has gotten out into the wild, I don't know that anything short of issuing new SSN's will really eliminate the risk. But that would be prohibitively expensive. and thanks to dim son, our federal budget really can't handles stuff like this.

Kerry's bill needs to be passed and get the credit monitoring in place now - and then we need to think long term about how to prevent identity theft for all of us veterans (and anyone else whose had their data stolen, like by Choicepoint et al).

[ProSense]

14. Worried about it too!

It seems it will impact anyone who served in the military in the past 30 years:

Veterans' ID Theft May Be Largest Ever

By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
8 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Veterans Affairs officials waited two weeks to call in the FBI to investigate the theft of sensitive personal data, delaying a warning to 26.5 million veterans now at risk in one of the nation's largest security breaches. Lawmakers from both parties demanded answers.

Burglars struck the suburban Maryland home of the VA data analyst in early May, taking government-owned laptop and disks containing the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of veterans discharged since 1975.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060523/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/vets26_million_ids_3

[Sapere aude]

15. self delete

[globalvillage]

16. So, what do you do once they're out?

The data was stolen. All that can be done is to find whoever stole it and monitor these people's credit
Identity theft can be devistating. It really is the least we can do.

[iilana X]

17. Fast work, John Kerry.

No flys on Kerry. Good for him.

A lot of stuff has turned up missing around this administration: weapons, money and data. What next, a cat burglar stealing the silverware at the White House?

[wisteria]

18. Another excellent response and good bill from Senator Kerry. n/t

[karynnj]

20. I'm not surprised he was on this so fast - keeping personal data private

and veterans' needs are both top Kerry priorities. He was fantastic in committee speaking about the companies that aggregate all the data available on people - he was alarmed by how much they were able to combine. He seems to work on veterans' issues nearly every month - I hope the SBVT feel quiilty each time his efforts help them.

[_dynamicdems]

22. He's really in there fighting for all of us on the privacy issues and he's

such an advocate for the veterans.

Those SB liars aren't capable of guilt. How could they be and still be breathing? After everything that has happened to our country and to other veterans because of Bush since 2004, they would have shriveled up and died of remorse by now if they possessed even a shred of humanity in their hollow carcases.

[ohtransplant]

21. Thank you Senator.

As a veteran I appreciate you looking out for the troops after they've come home.

Thanks for this and all your other efforts to fulfill America's promises made to veterans.

This is one of many reasons you would have made a much better President than the current Resident.