ChoicePoint, one of the nation’s largest sellers of private consumer data, has been asked by California’s attorney general to explain how it handled a security breach that allowed an identity-theft ring to steal the personal records of about 145,000 individuals from its databases. While ChoicePoint discovered the fraud in October and informed Los Angeles police, people whose data was compromised were only informed more recently. A ChoicePoint spokesman said that the delay was the result of a California law enforcement request that the notification not take place until the criminal investigation had progressed. 

Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, says he will hold hearings on the matter. Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) has asked another firm, Thomson West Inc., to close down a similar database. A spokesman for Thomson said his firm’s database concerns legal research and is available mostly to government-related customers and not to the general public.

Senate Panel to Discuss Identity Theft (Business Week 2/25/05) 

Data Mining Brought to the Surface (Toronto Globe and Mail 2/27/05)

March 1, 2005