Court’s ID theft ruling is too hard on victims

You might be doing everything you can to protect yourself from identity theft. But your government is lagging far behind.

A recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court took away a California woman’s right to sue a former credit reporting agency that gave away personal information of hers, because the lawsuit didn’t occur within two years of the theft. Forget the fact that woman didn’t find out about the theft right away. Forget the fact that at least 20 percent of identity theft victims don’t even know they’re victims within that ridiculous two-year time frame. The clock starts ticking when the thief starts robbing you of your life. Talk about giving criminals a head start!

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided the victim could sue the agency because, it said, the case started when the victim found out what was happening. But the Supreme Court rejected that and tossed the matter to Congress, which originally imposed the two-year time limit.

Credit industry attorneys told the Court it’s unreasonable to expect companies to keep records forever. Who’s talking about indefinitely? We’re just asking for longer than a measly two years. The average person keeps pay stubs, tax returns and old checks longer than two years. You’d think agencies could tap into all of the technology out there and do the same.

They should certainly be a lot more stringent and guarded about how and to whom they distribute our personal information. That’s not too much to ask. It should be a basic requirement. But the rampant growth of identity theft strongly suggests such safeguards are not top priority.

According to a recent Associated Press article, Congress just learned that identity theft is a national crisis. They just figured that out? We’ve known that around here for some time now. Ask letter writers Wendy and David Harrison how easy it is to be a victim. The Harrisons wrote earlier this month of the box of checks swiped from their own mailbox. Fortunately, they found out in time to protect themselves financially. But some local businesses were unfortunate enough to have accepted the bad checks, to the Harrisons’ dismay.

Others have had credit card statements and personal documents with their Social Security number taken from their mailbox. Remember the couple who allegedly bought a house in Granite Falls with a 19-year-old woman’s identity? Three vehicles were also purchased in the young woman’s name.

The various modes of identity theft appear endless. The thieves are cunning and creative. They’re in and out of peoples’ lives before they even know what happened. Yet, the victims are left to sort out their credit and financial affairs for years afterward.

Congress and the courts had better start taking this crime more seriously. People must have the right to sue agencies that don’t guard our information. Two years obviously isn’t enough time.

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