Members of the Senate Banking Committee have added their 2 cents to efforts to pass a consumer information data security bill.[@@
Sens. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, the head of the Senate Banking financial institutions subcommittee, and Thomas Carper, D-Del., have introduced S. 3568, a bill that would regulate company responses to data breaches.
Several House and Senate committees are jockeying for jurisdiction over the issue, suggesting that congressional interest remains strong.
S. 3568 would require companies to notify consumers about data breaches posing a risk of "substantial harm or inconvenience," including identity theft.
S. 3568, which is modeled after privacy provisions in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act that apply to all financial institutions, would apply to all entities that handle sensitive consumer data.
"Though current law requires financial institutions to protect the security and confidentiality of customer information, we have to expand this reach," Bennett says. "Many of the recent breaches in data security have occurred outside financial institutions' networks."
