§ 6-48-3 - Legislative findings. - Rhode Island Statutes

SECTION 6-48-3

   § 6-48-3  Legislative findings. – The general assembly finds and declares that:

   (a) Identity theft is a growing menace for consumers in thenew economy, as vast quantities of sensitive, personal information has becomevulnerable to criminal interception and misuse;

   (b) Identity theft has become a major law enforcementchallenge;

   (c) An integral part of many identity thefts involves theinterception of personal financial data, the fraudulent acquisition of creditcards or other financial products in another person's name;

   (d) Identity theft is an act that violates the privacy of ourcitizens, ruins their good names and may subject them to restricted access tocredit, diminished employment opportunities, and months or years of effort torepair damage to credit histories;

   (e) Social security numbers are frequently used asidentification numbers in many computer files, giving access to information anindividual may want kept private, making it [is] wise to limit accessto an individual's social security number whenever possible; and

   (f) It is therefore a valid public purpose for the RhodeIsland general assembly to ensure that the private financial information andsocial security numbers of the citizens of the state of Rhode Island are lessaccessible, in order to mitigate the potential for more identity theft to occur.