The Field Report with Tom Field

The FTC and Red Flags - Another Delay?

The FTC and Red Flags - Another Delay?

Want to get an early jump on starting a pool for 2010? Ask your colleagues to bet on which will happen first: the Massachusetts Data Protection Law will go into effect, or the FTC will finally start enforcing the Identity Theft Red Flags Rule?

This is madness. The Massachusetts privacy law - which was supposed to be the nation's new standard-bearer - was passed in Sept. 2008 and scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1 of this year. But multiple delays and revisions have put it off until March 2010. Unless (until?) some special interest group comes along with another objection and delay.

And then the Red Flags Rule, which has been enforced for most financial institutions since Nov. 1 of last year, has been held at bay continuously from legal and healthcare groups that object to elements of the regulation. Who's a creditor? What's a covered entity? These are among the unsettled questions. The FTC has now extended its enforcement deadline for the fourth time, until June 1, 2010. But I've no confidence that deadline is any more secure than the other four.

Why is doing the right thing so hard? We're talking about privacy and protection here - not the right to bear arms. I don't understand why groups keep throwing up so many obstacles, unless it just comes down to money - they don't want to pay the price of compliance.

But what's better: To pay up front for better protection, or after the fact when there's been a breach?

I think I know how our friends at TJX, Hannaford and Heartland would answer.

No more delays. It's time to get these regulations enacted and enforced.



About the Author

Tom Field

Tom Field

Senior Vice President, Editorial, ISMG

Field is responsible for all of ISMG's 28 global media properties and its team of journalists. He also helped to develop and lead ISMG's award-winning summit series that has brought together security practitioners and industry influencers from around the world, as well as ISMG's series of exclusive executive roundtables.




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