ChoicePoint Debacle Prompts Senate Review, Timing of Stock Trades questioned

The United States Senate Committe on the Judiciary, chaired by Arlen Specter (R-Pa), is considering holding hearings in response to ChoicePoint, Inc's release of 140,000 consumer records including consumer information. That hearing has not been scheduled yet although the Committee does have an Executive Business Meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 3 at 9:30 a.m.

The hearing was requested by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who along with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), yesterday criticized the information services industry and its safeguards. Senator Schumer's officer reportedly was able to obtain social security numbers and other private information used by identity thieves without undergoing scrutiny. Schumer's office used Westlaw.com, another well known information services company.

In a statement released this afternoon, the Direct Marketing Association reiterated its member guidelines, which require, "...that organizations -- both marketers and legitimate organizations that use such data -- develop staff policies, procedures, training, and responsiveness measures to protect personally identifiable information."

A related story reported by MSNBC has questioned the timing of a series of stock sales by ChoicePoint's CEO Derek Smith and President Douglas Curling. MSNBC reports that a ChoicePoint spokesperson denied any connection between the stock sales and the first arrest case last fall.

posted by Consumer Help Web Editorial Team at 3:26 PM |