My Friend, Russ

...emails me too.

Today, he thought I should know what's going on with personal data security:

Dear Matthew,

How many times have you seen it? You wake up, check the news, and learn about yet another security breach involving Americans' personal financial information. And each new breach seems to be worse than the last.

Recently, retailer TJX (the owner of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls) announced that a security breach exposed the transaction data of 47.5 million credit and debit card holders, setting an unfortunate new record in terms of personal records lost. And last month, the Transportation Safety Administration announced it had lost a hard drive with the Social Security numbers, payroll data, and bank information for 100,000 of its employees.

All told, according to the Privacy Rights Clearing House, more than 100 million records with sensitive personal information have been involved in security breaches since 2005. That's why I've signed on as a co-sponsor of Senator Patrick Leahy's Personal Data Privacy and Security Act, S. 495, comprehensive data privacy legislation that will finally give us the personal data protection we need to deal with the new threats presented by the information age.

But we need your help to build support in Congress for this important bipartisan bill.

Urge your Senators and Representative to pass Senator Leahy's Personal Data Privacy and Security Act -- without further delay!

Our legislation would update existing law to ensure that Americans' privacy is protected against the new and emerging threats introduced in the internet era, many of which did not even exist when the current privacy laws were originally written.

The bill requires that data brokers who hold personal information must tell consumers exactly what private data is being held, while allowing consumers to correct inaccurate data. The bill also requires that companies with personal information databases must implement privacy and security programs that would provide adequate protections from today's most cunning data thieves.

If private information is compromised, our legislation requires that affected consumers be notified in a timely manner -- an important new rule, considering that TJX kept their breach secret for over a month. And the bill would increase criminal penalties for electronic identity theft and make it a crime to cover up a data security breach.

Finally, the bill restricts the use of private information by the government, including new rules that federal agencies must promptly notify affected individuals if a data security breach occurs, while also requiring that federal agencies take a company's data security history into account when awarding government contracts.

Show Congress the widespread support that exists for increasing the security of our personal information -- urge your Senators and Representative to pass Senator Leahy's data privacy bill today!

The TJX data breach is just one of the many recent examples of why strong federal data privacy and security laws are needed to better secure Americans' sensitive personal information. I hope that you will join me in helping to pass Senator Leahy's long-overdue legislation.

Sincerely,

Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund

Of course, I have no doubt that my Senators, Dick and Barack, are already on board--and I'm fairly confident that my Rep., Fat Denny, won't listen to me. I did, however, contribute to Fat Denny's opponent in the last election, and I'll set aside a little to contribute next time, too.

America for Americans in 2008!