When I see news like this or this, I get seriously sick.

We need to add and enforce the same mandatory reporting laws for every state, not just California.

In a nutshell, California Senate Bill 1386 protects California residents when a breach has occurred to their protected information (e.g. Social Security Numbers, personal identification, etc.) and requires all companies that deal with California residents to report the breach. For example, if Company A is based out of Virginia and they experience a breach that affects a California resident, they must notify that California resident of the breach.

In this recent story, Atlanta-based ChoicePoint maintains and sells background files on virtually every adult American, culled from millions of public and private records. The Atlanta-based company says it has 10 billion records on individuals and businesses, and sells data to 40 percent of the nation's top 1,000 companies. It also has contracts with 35 government agencies, including several law enforcement agencies. "Even though you might not have heard of ChoicePoint, they've heard of you."

Last week, the firm sent about 35,000 letters to California residents telling them their personal data may have been stolen by criminals who set up fake companies and downloaded information from ChoicePoint. 

California is the only state that by law requires disclosure of such data leaks, and ChoicePoint initially suggested the theft of information might be limited to that state, but upon pressure from other states such as New York State, they have admitted the breach was far more reaching and may have affected over 145,000 Americans.

California consumers who have already received the letter from ChoicePoint expressed frustration; many had never heard of the firm before receiving the alarming letter.

It is anticipated that incidents such as this could cause other states, and even the Federal government, to enact similar laws. As the number of these incidents increase, people should ask themselves (and federal regulators), "Why am I less important than someone in California?”