Identity Theft Protection Act (S 1037A, H 6346)

The ACLU of Rhode Island supports the continued efforts to strengthen protections against security breaches and to protect the data and information of all Rhode Islanders. As such, we supported legislation which would amend the Identity Theft Protection Act of 2015 by, among other things, instructing municipal or state agencies to adopt policies to protect personally identifiable information from data breaches. This is especially important in light of the data breaches that the state itself has suffered in recent years. We did offer two preliminary amendments emphasizing that relying on vague, industry-developed guidelines based on a self-regulating field is worrisome, and that providing a private right of action would encourage stronger compliance with this law than the authority resting solely with the Attorney General.