Identity Theft Task Force

A task force comprised of the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission made recommendations to Congress yesterday to stiffen the penalties for ID thieves, spyware users and to stop using social security numbers when they aren’t necessary.

From Reuters here:

A task force created to curb identity theft urged federal agencies on Monday to help protect consumers by ceasing unnecessary use of Social Security numbers. 
 
The plan also recommended that Congress toughen and expand existing laws to make some identity thieves face a mandatory two-year sentence.

The new plan called for measures requiring the private sector to safeguard personal data and notify consumers when a breach occurs and for creating a national identity theft law enforcement center for coordinating police investigations.

Also it recommended legislative changes to help federal prosecutors charge those who use spyware, which can harvest personal data from a user’s computer.

I don’t know if a national ID Theft Police Department is an answer here, but it may help clear up lots of confusion that victims encounter when they find they have had their identities stolen.  One big piece of the frustration deals with the jurisdiction of the crime.  Some states say that the jurisdiction belongs to where the victim resides.  Others say it belongs to where the criminal resides, which is a real pain when it involves interstate crime.

Another point of confusion is the reluctance of credit card companies to share information about credit applications with law enforcement.  This needs to change, and it might if there is a centralized unit to deal with this problem.

It still seems like an awful lot of resources and money to throw at a crime problem that our society is only willing to punish offenders for two years.