Delaware Valley Overlook

The Pennsylvania state government is actively developing and implement laws to protect the local individual against identity threats.  Just as with the federal government, the state government is focusing on making it harder to illegally obtain identity information by requiring users and holders of identity information to maintain proper protection procedures.  Pennsylvania passed tougher laws which went into effect during 2006.   It is important that you become aware and more importantly, become compliant with the new information security requirements.

Here are links discussing the PA Identity Theft Law that went into effect in 2006 (signed into law in December 2005):

Article about PA Governor signing Identity Theft Law,
Here's an overview of the law,
Official text of the law (PA SB 761)

Here's an article discussing both the PA and NJ identity theft laws.

Some resources for victims of identity theft in PA:

Agencies for PA residents to contact if they become victims of identity theft: https://www.dot3.state.pa.us/identity_theft/agencies.shtml

Community Legal Services of Philadelphia  has a good discussion on "Criminal Identity Theft" in Pennsylvania and what can be done by the victim.


GENERAL

Bibliography of Federal, State, Consumer and News Resources about Identity Theft - Current laws, pending laws and related - a very good resource.

Consumer Debit Resource: Identity Theft Information (What consumer can do to protect identity).

There are some basic general first steps that can be taken by an individual immediately upon discovering personal information or documents are stolen: "If someone has stolen your personal information or identification documents, you can do several things to prevent the misuse of that information if you act quickly. For financial account information, such as a credit card or bank account, close the accounts immediately. If you believe your Social Security number has been stolen, call the toll-free fraud number for any of the three major credit bureaus and place a fraud alert on your credit reports. If your driver's license or other identification documents are stolen, you can contact the issuing agency and follow their procedures to place fraud flags and to get replacements."  (Source: ISSA)