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FTC mails ChoicePoint breach claims forms

The 1,400 fraud victims of the ChoicePoint data breach will soon be receiving claims forms from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) so they can be reimbursed for costs associated with identity theft.

The agency sent out the forms on Wednesday, about 11 months after it slapped Atlanta-based ChoicePoint with a $15 million penalty for shoddy data protection blamed for the compromise of the personal information of 163,000 customers, according to an FTC statement. Of the fine, $5 million was to go to customer redress.

The FTC has also created a website - https://www.ftc.com/choicepoint - so victims who do not receive claims forms can begin the redress process.

The amount of compensation per victim will depend on the number of claim forms, as well as each individual's expenses due to identity theft.

Some members of Congress had criticized the FTC for not acting quickly enough to pay back victims. The incident was reported Feb. 15, 2005 and is regarded as the watershed breach disclosure event.

Now, more than 30 states require companies to publicize the loss of customer information.

Click here to email Dan Kaplan.

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