Text 8416, 48 rader
Skriven 2005-11-25 16:23:26 av Mike N. (1:379/45)
   Kommentar till text 8401 av Rich Gauszka (1:379/45)
Ärende: Re: the DATA Act - or how congress f**ks up legislation
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From: Mike N. <mike@u-spam-u-die.net>

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 08:28:58 -0500, "Rich Gauszka" <gauszka@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Finally, I thought, we will get some accountability.
>
>Unfortunately, it appears highly likely that a weaker federal law -- which
>would invalidate stronger state laws like California's -- will be passed.
>The Data Accountability and Trust Act, or DATA Act, defangs the primary
>intent of the California law and will ensure that the public will rarely be
>informed when their personal information has been compromised.

  This really bugs me.  The politicians are completely in the banks and
credit bureaus' pockets.   They completely ignore the consumer.  I wrote my
senator and rep about this.   I got back a meaningless dance-around mumbo
jumbo saying they were concerned but not really interested in a
consumer-focused solution.   Nothing that makes sense like a consumer being
able to freeze their own credit - like being able to actually lock the doors to
your house when you leave.  No need to live in fear and check your credit
record every day to see who has stolen your information.

   Despite the cache' associated with a Swiss bank account, all they mean
to the average Joe Schlepp is higher banking fees.   But they do a number
of things right:
  1.)   Unlike the US, if a crook gets your bank account number, he cannot
drain your account electronically.    You have to pre-authorize any
electronic withdrawals.    In fact, one often gives their bank account
number to others to make payments to them.  Not rocket science - just common
sense.   So why can't banks in the US do this?
  2.)  They use 2-factor authentication for internet banking access -
nearly impossible for someone to hijack unless they convince you to talk to a
man-in-the-middle session -- not possible if you bookmarked the HTTPS:// page. 
 Swiss banks were phishing targets in the early days, but I haven't
seen anyone phishing for these lately.
  3.)  There are no checks and no checkbook to lose and have to spend hours
fighting to clear your name or stay out of jail.
http://clarkhoward.com/shownotes/2004/01/27/
   " And if you carry a checkbook, don?t. If someone steals your checks and
writes checks as if they are you, you could wind up in jail. It doesn?t matter
if you will be cleared later, you will suffer massively if a thief gets a hold
of your checkbook."


   I don't know if identity theft is a problem in Switzerland, but I
haven't heard of it since I've been here.

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