Sec. 2. Findings

428 words·~2 min read·/bill/113/s/1995/is/section-2

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

Congress finds that— databases of personally identifiable information are increasingly prime targets of hackers, identity thieves, rogue employees, and other criminals, including organized and sophisticated criminal operations; identity theft is a serious threat to the Nation’s economic stability, homeland security, the development of e-commerce, and the privacy rights of people in the United States; over 9,300,000 individuals were victims of identity theft in the United States in 2010; security breaches are a serious threat to consumer confidence, homeland security, e-commerce, and economic stability; it is important for business entities that own, use, or license personally identifiable information to adopt reasonable procedures to ensure the security, privacy, and confidentiality of that personally identifiable information; individuals whose personal information has been compromised or who have been victims of identity theft should receive the necessary information and assistance to mitigate their damages and to restore the integrity of their personal information and identities; data misuse and use of inaccurate data have the potential to cause serious or irreparable harm to an individual’s livelihood, privacy, and liberty and undermine efficient and effective business and government operations; there is a need to ensure that data brokers conduct their operations in a manner that prioritizes fairness, transparency, accuracy, and respect for the privacy of consumers; government access to commercial data can potentially improve safety, law enforcement, and national security; because government use of commercial data containing personal information potentially affects individual privacy, and law enforcement and national security operations, there is a need for Congress to exercise oversight over government use of commercial data; over 22,960,000 cases of data breaches involving personally identifiable information were reported through July of 2011, and in 2009 through 2010, over 230,900,000 cases of personal data breaches were reported; facilitating information sharing among business entities and across sectors in the event of a breach can assist in remediating the breach and preventing similar breaches in the future; because the Federal Government has limited resources, consumers themselves play a vital and complementary role in facilitating prompt notification and protecting against future breaches of security; in addition to the immediate damages caused by security breaches, the lack of basic remedial requirements often forces individuals whose sensitive personally identifiable information is compromised as a result of a security breach to incur the economic costs of litigation to seek remedies, and the economic costs of fees required in many States to freeze compromised accounts; and victims of personal data breaches may suffer debilitating emotional and physical effects and become depressed or anxious, especially in cases of repeated or unresolved instances of data breaches.