New Jersey State Laws for Privacy & Shredding

New Jersey’s Identity Theft Protection Act

New Jersey’s Identify Theft Protection Act is one of the strongest in the nation. It requires companies operating out of, or conducting business within the state, to (1) immediately contact the State Police; and (2) disclose the breach to its New Jersey customers whenever any suspicious or actual breach of a New Jersey resident’s personal information has occurred. The Act allows residents to contact local authorities whenever there is suspicion that personal information has been breached. The Act requires companies which store personal information to destroy the records containing that information when it is no longer needed. It also mandates that Social Security numbers (which have been identified as being most vulnerable to identity theft) be kept separate from all other personal information.

Identity Theft Prevention Act took effect on January 1, 2006

NEW JERSEY’S LAW

1. Requires local law enforcement agencies to take a police report from a victim of identity theft;
2. Permits a security freeze on a consumer report which prohibits consumer reporting agencies from releasing a report to a third party without permission;
3. Requires public entities to destroy records, if they contain personal information, when files are purged. The suggested means of destruction is SHREDDING; A business or public entity shall destroy, or arrange for the destruction of, a customer’s records within its custody or control containing personal information, which is no longer to be retained by the business or public entity, by shredding, erasing, or otherwise modifying the personal information in those records to make it unreadable, undecipherable or nonreconstructable through generally available means.
4. Requires businesses or public entities that compile or maintain computerized records that include personal information to disclose any breach of security of those computerized records to any New Jersey resident whose personal information is believed to have been accessed by an unauthorized person; and
5. Prohibits any public or private entity from posting or displaying your Social Security number, printing your Social Security number on any materials sent through the mail or intentionally making your Social Security number available to the general public or transmitting it over the Internet unless the number is encrypted.