ID theft task force recommends national police report

An identity theft task force created by U.S. President George Bush has recommended nationally accepted police reports that victims could fill out online, and a change in U.S. law that would require those convicted of such crimes to pay victims for the time used to clear up identity problems.

The President's Identity Theft Task Force, which met Tuesday, also recommended that U.S. agencies examine whether their use of Social Security numbers is necessary and called on an interagency working group on ID theft to develop best practices for data security in government.

The U.S. government needs to lead by example in protecting consumers from ID theft, Deborah Platt Majoras, chairwoman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), said.

"Identity theft truly is a direct assault on our citizens and attacks the very foundation of the information economy," Majoras said in a joint press conference with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The task force's recommendations are an interim list, with a full plan of how to attack ID theft to be released in November. But the recommendations released Tuesday are steps U.S. agencies and other groups can take immediately, Gonzales said.

About 4 percent of U.S. residents are ID theft victims every year, Gonzales said. Bush established the task force because of "the prevalence of this crime, combined with the lingering burdens and effects on victims," Gonzales said.

"When we look at the problem of identity theft, we are reminded that the same technological advances that have improved our lives have also given new and broad opportunities to criminals, including identity thieves," he added. "As with any crime, victims suffer feelings of violation and stress, but in these cases, victims have the added burden of essentially cleaning up the mess that the identity thieves leave behind."

Among the task force's recommendations:

-- The U.S. Congress should change laws to require that defendants convicted of ID theft pay victims for the time they spent clearing up the mess.

-- The U.S. should adopt a universal police report that ID theft victims can fill out online, print out and take to their local police station.

-- The U.S. Office of Personnel Management should speed up its review of the use of Social Security numbers by federal agencies.

-- U.S. agencies should work with experts to find other ways of authenticating people's identities, such as biometrics.

-- U.S. agencies should develop better plans to disclose data breaches to potential victims. In May, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had a laptop and hard drive stolen from an analyst's home, and the agency took about two weeks to report the theft to the public. Majoras and Gonzales didn't talk about the VA case, but members of Congress have called for the VA to do a better job of notifying potential victims.