Apparently, the Federal Trade Commission is close to deciding what should happen to ChoicePoint regarding their selling consumer credit data to a ring of identity thieves. They’re being fined a currently undisclosed amount, and are required to setup a fund to help victims of identity theft, which is to be administered by the FTC. I hope that the settlement also includes some sort of external auditing or oversight of ChoicePoint’s obviously irresponsible business practices.
What is a bit worrisome is that ChoicePoint has not admitted to any wrongdoing in the course of the FTC investigation. ChoicePoint allowed a ring of identity thieves to become customers of their services. Doesn’t ChoicePoint have an obligation to the people whose information they sell to make sure that their customers are legitimate, and not criminals.
As I said in a previous post about ChoicePoint: “What is really ironic about ChoicePoint selling data to bogus customers is they are one of the companies that has marketed itself and its services to DHS to help identify possible terrorists.”
Other stories from my blog on ChoicePoint and identity theft can be seen here.
Update: ChoicePoint to pay $10 million in fines to FTC plus $5 million for fund to help victims of identity theft. ChoicePoint also has to submit to third-party audits every other year until 2026. From the news.com story < a href=”http://news.com.com/2100-7350_3-6031629.html?part=rss&tag=6031629&subj=news”here.