By Sen. James Seward

Every year I receive letters from constituents concerned about some aspect of deception in marketing. Many of the concerns people express relate now to identity theft or protection of personal information. With every credit card company and business asking for your social security number, consumers have to be careful about the amount of personal information that you disclose to others.

This year, the senate majority took the initiative on a couple of major concerns related to identity theft. It follows on the heels of a special report issued by a temporary panel of the senate that reviewed the problem and scope of identity theft in New York.

The senate passed a package of legislation to protect people from identity theft that would give consumers a proactive way to prevent identity theft, protect against cyber piracy, and increase penalties for those who commit identity theft. The package is highlighted by legislation that would allow consumers to place security freezes on their credit, preventing identity thieves from causing greater damage to a victim’s credit.