Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
Chairman, Committee On The Judiciary,
On Delay In Senate Passage Of
The Identity Theft Enforcement And Restitution Act Of 2007
November 13, 2007

MR. PRESIDENT. I am disappointed that some Senator is preventing the Senate from taking an important step forward to combat identity theft and to protect the privacy rights of all Americans by passing the Leahy-Specter Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act of 2007. This bipartisan cyber crime bill, which was requested by the Department of Justice, will provide new tools to federal prosecutors to combat identity theft and other computer crimes. I know that it is cleared for passage by all Democratic Senators.

The dangers of identity theft and other cyber crimes continue to increase as our Nation becomes more dependent on high technology. In fact, just last week, FBI Director Robert Mueller stated that “[c]yber threats will continue to grow as people become more and more dependent upon digital technology” and "we will be vulnerable to terrible attacks.” Prompt Senate action on this bill will brings us one step closer to providing greatly needed tools to the federal prosecutors and investigators who are on the front lines of the battle against identity theft and other cyber crimes. I urge those objecting to proceeding on this bill to reconsider their actions and allow the bill to be considered and passed.

I thank Senator Specter, who has been a valuable partner in combating the growing problem of identity theft for many years, for joining with me to introduce this important privacy bill. I have once again worked in a bipartisan manner with a group of Senators on both sides of the aisle to draft this legislation. I thank Senators Durbin, Grassley, Schumer, Bill Nelson, Inouye, Stevens and Feinstein for joining with us as cosponsors of this important legislation.

I commend Senators Biden and Hatch for their contributions in this area. I am pleased that several provisions they have suggested to further strengthen this cyber crime legislation were included by amendment in this bill when it was considered and reported by the Judiciary Committee and that they, too, have now cosponsored our bill.

Senator Specter and I have worked closely with the Department of Justice in crafting this bill and the Leahy-Specter Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act has the strong support of the Department of Justice and the Secret Service. This bill is also supported by a broad coalition of business, high tech and consumer groups, including Microsoft, Consumers Union, the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, the Business Software Alliance, AARP and the Chamber of Commerce.

The Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act takes several important and long overdue steps to protect Americans from the growing and evolving threat of identity theft and other cyber crimes. First, to better protect American consumers, our bill provides the victims of identity theft with the ability to seek restitution in federal court for the loss of time and money spent restoring their credit and remedying the harms of identity theft, so that identity theft victims can be made whole.

Second, because identity theft schemes are much more sophisticated and cunning in today’s digital era, our bill also expands the scope of the federal identity theft statutes so that the law keeps up with the ingenuity of today’s identity thieves. Our bill adds three new crimes – passing counterfeit securities, mail theft, and tax fraud – to the list of predicate offenses for aggravated identity theft. And, in order to better deter this kind of criminal activity, our bill also significantly increases the criminal penalties for these crimes. To address the increasing number of computer hacking crimes that involve computers located within the same State, our bill also eliminates the jurisdictional requirement that a computer’s information must be stolen through an interstate or foreign communication in order to federally prosecute this crime.

Our bill also addresses the growing problem of the malicious use of spyware to steal sensitive personal information, by eliminating the requirement that the loss resulting from the damage to a victim’s computer must exceed $5,000 in order to federally prosecute this offense. The bill also carefully balances this necessary change with the legitimate need to protect innocent actors from frivolous prosecutions, and clarifies that the elimination of the $5,000 threshold applies only to criminal cases. In addition, our bill addresses the increasing number of cyber attacks on multiple computers, by making it a felony to employ spyware or keyloggers to damage 10 or more computers, regardless of the aggregate amount of damage caused. By making this crime a felony, the bill ensures that the most egregious identity thieves will not escape with minimal punishment under federal cyber crime laws.

Lastly, our bill strengthens the protections for American businesses, which are more and more becoming the focus of identity thieves, by adding two new causes of action under the cyber extortion statute -- threatening to obtain or release information from a protected computer and demanding money in relation to a protected computer -- so that this bad conduct can be federally prosecuted. In addition, because a business as well as an individual can be a prime target for identity theft, our bill closes several gaps in the federal identity theft and the aggravated identity theft statutes to ensure that identity thieves who target a small business or a corporation can be prosecuted under these laws. The bill also adds the remedy of civil and criminal forfeiture to the arsenal of tools to combat cyber crime and our bill directs the United States Sentencing Commission to review its guidelines for identity theft and cyber crime offenses.

The Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act is a good, bipartisan measure to help combat the growing threat of identity theft and other cyber crimes to all Americans. This carefully balanced bill protects the privacy rights of American consumers, the interests of and business and the legitimate needs of law enforcement. This privacy bill also builds upon our prior efforts to enact comprehensive data privacy legislation. The Leahy-Specter Personal Data Privacy and Security Act, S. 495, which Senator Specter and I reintroduced earlier this year, would address the growing dangers of identity theft at its source – lax data security and inadequate breach notification. Protecting the privacy and security of American consumers should be one of the Senate’s top legislative priorities and I urge the Majority Leader to take up that measure at the earliest opportunity.

Again, I thank the bipartisan coalition of Senators who have joined Senator Specter and me in supporting this important privacy legislation, as well as the many consumer and business groups that support this bill. I urge whoever is holding up this bipartisan bill to stop delaying this measure, so that the Senate can promptly pass this important and much-needed privacy bill before the Thanksgiving recess.

I request that a support letter from the Chamber of Commerce be printed in the record following my remarks.