FTC Report on ID Theft Shows Need for Stronger Consumer Protections

A new report released by the Federal Trade Commission today estimates that 8.3 million Americans fell victim to identity theft in 2005. The report underscores the need to provide consumers with stronger protections against identity fraud, according to Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.

"Identity theft is a huge headache that continues to plague millions of Americans every year," says Gail Hillebrand, director of Consumers Union's Financial Privacy Now campaign. "It's time to require businesses and government agencies to safeguard sensitive personal data and to give
consumers the protection they need."

While the FTC's estimate of identity theft victims is lower than its 2003 report, the agency noted that the decline was not statistically significant. The FTC found that 37 percent of identity theft victims reported that they experienced problems beyond the time and money spent
recovering from the fraud, such as harassment by debt collectors and denial of new credit. Sixty-eight percent of new account fraud victims reported experiencing these kinds of problems. The report found that nearly one-quarter of new account fraud victims did not find out about the misuse of their information until at least six months after it started.

As of Nov. 1, consumers nationwide have the ability to thwart new account fraud by freezing access to their credit files. Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws requiring credit reporting agencies to allow consumers to protect their credit files with a security freeze. The credit reporting agencies are now making this safeguard available to consumers in the remaining states.

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Consumer Inventory Pinpoints Surge in Nanotech Use in Health & Fitness Products

Say "nanotechnology," and geeks imagine iPhones, laptops and flash drives. But more than 60 percent of the 580 products in a newly updated inventory of nanotechnology consumer products are such "un-geeky" items as tennis racquets, clothing, and health products.

Maintained by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, the updated inventory includes Head NanoTitanium Tennis Racquets, Eddie Bauer Water Shorts with Nano-Dry technology, Nano-In Foot Deodorant Powder/Spray, and Burt's Bees sunscreen with "natural Titanium Dioxide mineral ... micronized into a nano sized particle."

Nanotechnology is the engineering of devices and materials at the atomic level.

Since the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies launched the world's first online inventory of manufacturer-identified nanotech goods in March 2006, the number of items has increased 175 percent -- from 220 to 580 products. There are 356 products in the health and fitness category -- the inventory's largest category -- and 66 products in the food and beverage category. One of the largest subcategories is cosmetics with 89 products. All are available in shopping malls or over the Internet.

The list includes merchandise from such well-known brands as Samsung, Chanel, Black & Decker, Wilson, L.L. Bean, Lancome and L'Oreal.

The nanomaterial of choice appears to be silver -- which manufacturers claim is in 139 products or nearly 25 percent of inventory -- far outstripping carbon, gold, or silica.

"The use of nanotechnology and nanomaterials in consumer products and industrial applications is growing rapidly, and the products listed in the inventory are just the tip of the iceberg," says Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies science advisor Andrew Maynard. "How consumers respond to these early products -- in food, electronics, health care, clothing and cars - - will be a bellwether for broader market acceptance of nanotechnologies in the future. This is especially true given that the Project's recent poll shows seventy percent of the public still knows
little or nothing about the technology."

In an effort to jumpstart a conversation with consumers about the possible benefits and risks of nanotechnology, the Project -- in collaboration with Consumers Union, the publishers of Consumer Reports magazine and Consumer Reports Online -- recently announced
ConsumersTalkNano. This online dialogue will take place over two days, Oct. 23-24.

Any interested member of the public will be able to communicate online throughout the two days (Oct. 23-24) with panelists from the Project, Consumers Union and others.

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