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Congratulations!! |
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The Maine Chapter Website was award "Website of the Year" by ASIS
International for Group 2 Chapters.
__________________
Bruce Lewis, CPP, Maine Chapter Member, has been named the 2007 Regional
Vice President of the Year by ASIS International. |
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Legislative Information |
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ASIS International monitors legislative action, and lobbies on behalf
of it's membership. Members of ASIS International can view
legislative information and the position of ASIS International by
visiting the national website. (click
here for direct access to the legislative section).
Periodically ASIS International releases legislative action updates.
To view these updates, click on the links below.
Legislative
& Legal Updates [Source: Security Management
Magazine]:
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School
Counseling: In light of the Virginia Tech tragedy, the
RAND Corp. provides a tool-kit for school-based mental
healthcare for students recovering from a traumatic event.
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Campus Crime:
Check out the
latest statistics on criminal offenses on college and university
campuses from the FBI.
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Workplace
Violence: An employer was wrong to fire a violent bipolar
employee,
ruled a federal appeals court. Previous courts have ruled that
employers need not tolerate violent behavior from any employee.
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Employment:
Employers cannot question the accuracy of job applicants’ Social
Security numbers,
ruled a federal district court. However, employers can ask where
they were born and if they filed tax returns. |
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Discrimination: Maine’s high
court has
ruled
that a company did not discriminate against a security
guard when it refused to allow him to carry a firearm. The company
decided not to arm the guard after several psychological
evaluations. Reports on the evaluations noted that the guard was
aggressive and short-tempered |
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Criminal History: A new
report details how states are using federal money to improve
criminal history records. For example, Georgia, Hawaii, and Maine
are using the grants to improve the transmission of case information
to their central criminal-record repositories. |
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Identity theft: The
Department of the Treasury, along with several other agencies, has
issued a proposed rule that will require financial institutions and
creditors to establish a program to reduce identity theft. Under the
proposed rule, financial institutions and creditors must develop
policies and procedures to prevent identity theft from occurring.
The program, according to the proposed rule, must be appropriate to
the size and complexity of the company and must take into account
the nature and scope of its activities. Those companies falling
under the regulation would have to identify red flags that are
relevant to detecting possible identity theft; verify the identity
of people opening accounts; mitigate the risk of identity theft
commensurate with the degree of risk posed; and devise training
programs for employees. @ To read the entire proposed rule, visit
SM Online. |
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Port security: A
port security bill
(H.R. 4954) was signed into law by President Bush becoming
P.L. 109-347. The law requires that the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) develop and implement a strategic plan to enhance
maritime security. The measure also requires that DHS develop and
implement a plan to improve existing programs that identify
high-risk containers moving through the international supply chain.
The law further requires that states submit to the federal
government biographic information on current and future employees
who have access to secured areas of seaports. DHS will compare this
information to data on terrorist watch lists. In addition, under the
new law, DHS must establish minimum standards and verification
procedures for securing containers in transit, including
international standards for containers moving through the global
supply chain. DHS must submit a plan to Congress for deployment of
radiation detection equipment at all U.S. ports. |
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Terrorism:
Soon after convening in January, the House of Representatives
approved
H.R. 1, a bill that would implement the recommendations of the
9/11 Commission that were not enacted in the prior Congress. While
the 9/11 Commission had much support, concerns about the costs and
practical challenges of implementing all of its recommendations
remain. For that reason, this bill is not expected to sail as
expeditiously to passage in the Senate. |
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Computer Security: Numerous states have created laws
that require companies to notify consumers in the event of an
electronic security breach. The laws include exceptions when the
notification would be extremely costly, though the figures differ by
state. In
Vermont, the amount is $5,000, while in
Washington state it is $250,000. And, the laws do not require
disclosure if misuse of the data is unlikely to occur. In addition
to Vermont and Washington, such laws were passed in
Arizona,
Hawaii,
Indiana,
Minnesota,
New
Hampshire,
North Dakota, and
Texas.
Three states created the specific crime of phishing in their
legislative sessions. (In phishing, scammers send e-mails falsely
claiming to be a legitimate enterprise in an attempt to obtain
private information from the user.) An
Oklahoma law
makes phishing illegal and allows Internet service
providers (ISPs) to bring civil actions. ISPs may recover actual
damages or up to $100,000 for each violation. A
Rhode Island law
provides that consumers can sue for damages of
up to $500 per violation and ISPs can recover actual damages or up
to $5,000 in damages. A new
Connecticut law
allows anyone harmed by phishing to sue the
sender for actual damages or $25,000, whichever is greater.
Rhode Island has addressed another aspect of computer crime,
amending an existing law that made it a crime to seize a computer,
software, or information with the intent to deprive the owner of
possession of those items. The new law no longer requires the
element of intent for the act to be a crime, thus increasing the
scope of the law.
A
Kansas law makes it a felony for anyone without authorization to
knowingly possess or use a scanning device to access, read, obtain,
memorize, or store information encoded on a credit or debit card.
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Identify Theft: In numerous states, lawmakers have
addressed identity theft. In most cases, they are amending earlier
laws, refining the state’s role in curbing identity theft, or
enhancing criminal penalties for those convicted of committing such
crimes.
Security freeze. Many states are allowing victims of
identity theft to place a security freeze, also called a credit
freeze, on their financial records so that no more damage can be
done by identity thieves while the victim is sorting out the
problem. For example, in
New Jersey, a new law allows consumers to request a security
freeze. This prohibits consumer reporting agencies from releasing
any information about the consumer without express written
permission. The agency may, however, report to third parties—such as
someone applying for credit in the victim’s name—that a security
freeze is in place. Similar laws were approved in
Florida,
Hawaii,
and
South Dakota.
A
New Hampshire law
requires that consumer reporting agencies
allow victims of identity theft to place a security freeze free of
charge. However, it allows any resident, even if they have not been
a victim of theft, to place a security freeze on his or her
information for a fee of no more than $10. A similar law was passed
in
Vermont.
A new
North Carolina law
allows victims of identity theft to put a
freeze on their credit with national credit bureaus, making it
impossible for criminals to apply for credit in their names. Another
provision of the new law controls how Social Security numbers are
collected and distributed by business and government agencies in the
state.
Penalties. Several states have increased identity theft
penalties for those who victimize the elderly or people with
disabilities. For example, in
Nevada, the crime of identity theft is a category C felony and
is punishable by a minimum of one year in prison. If the crime is
committed against a disabled person or anyone older than 60 years of
age, it is considered a category A felony and merits a minimum of
three years in prison. Similar measures have been passed in
Louisiana,
Ohio, and in the state of
Washington.
Passports. Lawmakers in
Delaware,
Maryland,
Iowa ,Nevada,
and
Ohio established what they call “identity theft passports.” The
passports, which are approved by law enforcement and issued by the
state government, document the identity theft perpetrated against a
victim. The victim may then use the passport to prevent arrest for
an offense committed by another person or to aid creditors in
clearing a victim’s financial records.
Security provisions. A new law in
Rhode Island
contains provisions for placing a security freeze
on a consumer account. The law also requires that any business that
owns or licenses computerized, unencrypted information on customers
implement and maintain reasonable security measures. These measures
should be sufficient to protect the personal information from
unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure.
A new
Minnesota law provides for computer security, in addition to
setting up an identity theft passport and establishing provisions
for victims to put a security freeze on their accounts. The law
makes it illegal to sell, obtain, disclose, or receive an
individual’s telephone records without the permission of the
individual. It also establishes security standards for telecom
companies and requires that those companies report any data
breaches.
In addition to prohibiting the sale or disclosure of an individual’s
Social Security number (SSN), the law prohibits businesses from
using an SSN as a person’s identifier within that business.
Exceptions are provided in situations where an SSN is required, such
as to access tax information or obtain a credit report.
Another part of the law would reverse the state’s data privacy
policy. Currently, information is available to the public unless
specifically prohibited from disclosure by law. Under the new
proposal, the opposite would be true—all information would be kept
private unless specifically designated, by law, to be released to
the public.
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Information Brokers:. Several states passed laws to make
it illegal for information brokers to obtain information by
pretending to be the consumer or someone else with legal access to
the data—a practice known as pretexting. Laws in
Florida,
Georgia,
Oklahoma, and
Maryland would make pretexting to obtain telephone records
illegal. A new statute in
Utah would make pretexting illegal pertaining to any sensitive
personal-identifying information. |
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School Safety: Several states have addressed school safety by
requiring schools to adopt antibullying statutes. A new law in
Alaska requires that all schools enact policies that prohibit
bullying, harassment, and intimidation. A similar law was approved
in
South Carolina. In
Illinois, a new law requires that school districts instruct
students on bullying prevention in all grades.
Other states are enacting or modifying plans to protect students
during an emergency. For example, in
Virginia, lawmakers have required that schools develop a medical
emergency response plan as part of the existing crisis and emergency
management plan. An
Ohio law
requires private schools to develop school safety plans
and conduct emergency drills.
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Physical Security: A new law passed in
Virginia requires that landlords install new locks or security
devices on apartments rented by tenants who have a restraining order
against a cotenant. The tenant must present a copy of the
restraining order to the landlord. The landlord must then install a
new lock or other security devices on the exterior doors of the unit
at the landlord’s cost or allow the tenant to install such devices
at his or her cost. The new device may not cause permanent damage to
any part of the building, and the landlord must be given duplicate
keys or instructions on how to use the new security devices. Under
the new law, the landlord may not provide keys or information to the
person named on the restraining order. [Source: Security Management
Online] |
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Surveillance: A new
Wyoming law makes it a felony to intentionally and
surreptitiously record images of people in an enclosed area where
they have an expectation of privacy such as a bathroom, shower, or
dressing room. Under the law, those who wish to record dressing
rooms for security purposes, for example, must clearly post their
intentions or get the consent of the person being viewed.
A similar law approved in
Maryland sets out the places in which consumers can expect
privacy, including offices, businesses, stores, recreational
facilities, restaurants, hotels, theaters, schools, banks, and
daycare facilities. The Maryland bill further provides exceptions
for covert surveillance conducted expressly to prevent crime |
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Next Meeting
Our next meeting will a joint meeting
with the Granite State Chapter.
The meeting will be held on September
3, 2008 at 6pm in the Portsmouth, NH area.
Stay tuned for details on the exact
location, and roundtable topic.
Additionally we are looking for members
that are willing to help out on the board next year. Any member
interested, please contact Ron Demers.
Enjoy the summer!
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