Equifax's chief executive says he opposes federal legislation that lets consumers obtain a free copy of their credit report to help them monitor financial accounts for fraudulent activity.

CEO Thomas Chapman called the legislation unconstitutional and un-American because it cuts into profits that Equifax and two rival credit reporting agencies -- Experian and TransUnion -- earn from selling credit reports and monitoring services. Equifax maintains credit data on 220 million Americans. The company earned $1.27 billion in revenue last year.

"Our company felt, and still does ... that it's unconstitutional to cause a public company who has a fiduciary responsibility to return profit to shareholders to give away the product," Chapman said to reporters following a speech at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on Monday. "Most of my shareholder group did not think that giving away our product was the American way."
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He discussed recent data breaches and the California notification law that requires companies to tell consumer when they experience a security breach -- a law that many credit with making consumers aware of data breaches that previously went unreported. Chapman said his company "has notified people for a long time."
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When pressed to say whether his company had notified consumers when it experienced insignificant breaches, he replied, "I'm not going to go there. I'm not going to answer that question. We have been notifying and engaging in communication with customers, consumers, for a long time. We're known for that. We're known for our stand on privacy."

To ward off excessive legislation, Chapman supports the idea of tougher industry standards pressuring companies to encrypt data. He suggested that increased funding for enforcement of data-theft laws would help reverse a trend in which few identity thieves are ever prosecuted.

His reasoning on how to stop theft is fundamentally flawed; you could bring back corporal punishment and still fall victim to identity crooks overseas.

Very good point. I'd love to see stats on where the identity theft is happening from. Is it other countries? Is it people in this country helping people in other countries?

Requiring encryption is fantastic

Of course! Just throw some encryption at it! That will fix it! Adding encryption to a product after the fact is like repainting a car that has a broken transmition. You get a pretty car that doesn't work.

RE: Wired News: Credit Chief Slams Free Reports