Yikes - ID Theft and Texas

From a post today on Freakonomics . . .

I.D.-Theft Watchdog Finds the State of Texas is Wide Open for I.D. Thieves
Steven Peisner, whom Dubner and Levitt wrote about recently in a column on identity theft, has made a career out of trying to stop people from hacking or otherwise stealing valuable information from websites.
So Peisner’s ears perked up when he learned of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s announcement on May 31 that Texas now requires companies to shred documents that list customers’ personal information rather than simply tear them in half. In a televised press conference, Abbott blasted stores like the EZ Pawn chain, charging that its practice of throwing unshredded documents into Dumpsters “put hundreds of Texans at risk” by giving fraudsters access to confidential information. EZ Pawn is being charged with violating the new law, Abbott said, with penalties of up to $50,000 per infraction.

See the whole article here: http://www.freakonomics.com/blog/2007/07/12/id-theft-watchdog-finds-the-state-of-texas-is-wide-open-for-id-thieves/