From All Things Considered, on National Public Radio
After Equifax Hack, Calls For Big Changes In Credit Reporting Industry
By Chris Arnold
...The Equifax security breach — the largest known theft of Social Security numbers in history — has lawmakers, prosecutors and identity theft victims like Mifflin angry with the company. The revelations have put a spotlight on the industry, raising some important and deeper questions and sparking calls for tough new rules to reshape the credit reporting landscape....A bill introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., would require free credit freezes. And several proposals in Congress would also give Americans more access to their credit reports free of charge.
Chris Hoofnagle, a cybersecurity expert at Berkeley Law school [and School of Information], says all of these measures are necessary steps toward fundamentally changing the credit system. Currently, he says, "every second of your existence someone can come along and pretend to be you, get your consumer report, and get a new credit card or an auto loan in your name."
Hoofnagle says your credit report should be frozen by default and then you could unfreeze it to, say, buy a car....
