Issue Position: Cracking Down on Identity Theft and Spyware

Issue Position

Schiff has been a leading voice in Congress for cracking down on cyber crime and identity theft. In May 2007, he introduced bipartisan legislation with Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) that takes strong steps to combat cyber crime and protect data security. The Cyber-Security Enhancement Act is designed to help protect American consumers and businesses from the costly effects of identity theft and computer fraud.

Schiff is concerned that as criminals use new technologies to prey upon their victims and defraud consumers, our efforts to fight them have lagged. The Cyber-Security Enhancement Act would provide better data security protections for individuals and businesses by giving law enforcement the tools they need to successfully track down and prosecute cyber criminals.

Many of the reforms that Schiff introduced were ultimately enacted as part of a larger bill (H.R. 6060) in October 2008. He will be working in the 112th Congress to ensure our laws stay up to date, and are able to effectively combat cyber criminals and identity thieves.

In September 2010, Schiff introduced the Data Breach Notification Act, a companion bill to legislation introduced by Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA). The Data Breach Notification Act would lay out a national standard requiring companies and public agencies to notify consumers when their data is stolen or lost. Data breach can result in significant losses to consumers because they were never told of the loss of the data, making them vulnerable to identity theft.

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