STEARNS LOOKING AT DEVELOPING LEGISLATION THAT WOULD GO BEYOND A NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT

Washington, Jun 7, 2005 - "The public should be confident that their personal information is secure; it is obvious from these breaches that more must be done to protect consumer data," stated Rep. Cliff Stearns, Chairman of the Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee.  "My hearings on data breaches and consumer data security showed broad support for a comprehensive federal notification requirement to consumers for these security breaches.  I am considering legislation that would go beyond this notification requirement and my goals is to hold a legislative hearing on this bill shortly after it is introduced, hopefully within the next two weeks or so."

Stearns conducted the most extensive hearings in the 107th Congress on the issue of privacy, and he has held two hearings so far this year dealing specifically with data security breaches.  "Although I am still formulating legislative language, it is obvious that we need to fill the holes in current law.  In addition, the bill should provide incentives to data brokers to develop and adopt new technologies, such as encryption, to secure these data."