Senate to Hold Hearings on Identity Theft

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said Thursday that he would hold hearings on identity theft and information brokers after the revelation last week that ChoicePoint Inc., a databank with information on millions of people, was accessed by criminals.

Democrats, including California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, have been calling for an inquiry into whether more regulation of such companies that buy and sell personal data is needed.

Specter, a Republican from Pennsylvania, did not give a schedule for the hearings.

Meanwhile, ChoicePoint Chief Executive Derek Smith said Thursday that he supported congressional hearings and tighter regulation of the data collection industry, if necessary, after revelations that his company was duped into giving criminals access to its huge database of consumers’ personal information.

His face drawn and eyes weary from two days of meetings in New York with large investors, Smith said he was working to keep shareholders and customers from running away.

He said his company was investigating whether anyone internally was involved in the breach, but he emphasized that there was no evidence of that.

“If we knew somebody had done something internally, we would tell you that,” Smith said, adding that his company was as much a victim as the 145,000 Americans whose personal information might have been viewed by criminals.

California authorities estimate that there are as many as 500,000 victims. The ring operated for more than a year before it was detected. At least 750 people are known to have been defrauded, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Late last week, a North Hollywood man, Olatunji Oluwatosin, pleaded no contest to felony identity theft in connection with the fraud and was sentenced to 16 months in prison.

“I wish we would have caught it sooner,” Smith said.

ChoicePoint has 19 billion public records in its database, including driver’s license and Social Security numbers.