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group of 10 advocacy organizations, including the Identity Theft Resource Center and the Better Identity Coalition, have called on Congress to pass the Improving Digital Identity Act of 2022, mandating the government to develop federal digital ID infrastructure.
The bill has advanced through committees in both the House and Senate, but it is yet to be put to a vote.
In the letter, the organizations noted that in 2021, 293 million people were affected by data breaches, and that there has been a 333% rise in losses from identity fraud since 2017.
The letter further notes that the FTC estimated that there was a 3,000% increase in identity theft for public benefits from 2019 to 2020. And, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has identified abuse of components of digital identity, like personally identifiable information, as the main cause of cybercrime and fraud in the country.
According to the Federal Reserve, synthetic identity fraud causes losses of $20 billion annually.
“The lack of an easy, secure, reliable way for entities to verify identities of people they are dealing with online creates friction in commerce, leads to increased fraud and theft, degrades privacy and hinders the availability of many services online,” the organizations wrote in the letter to Congress.
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