FTC Seeks Comment on Proposed FACT Act Regulations on Records Disposal and Identity Theft

The FTC has set a June 15 deadline for comments on two sets of proposed rules that, while they arise from the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act or the Act), should be followed closely because of their broader implications for authentication and data destruction issues and their potential effect on virtually all companies that interact directly or indirectly with consumers. For example, just as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley financial privacy safeguard standards have been used more broadly outside of the financial context by the FTC as the standard of care for procedures to ensure the protection of consumer information (such as in connection with the Tower Records and Guess Inc. FTC security enforcement actions; see previous published article, "Check Your Privacy Policies And Implement Data Security Programs" - link provided at bottom of page), the requirements articulated in these rules are likely to have broader implications for data destruction and authentication in