Anyone who was in the state's retirement system in 2003 and 2004 could be affected. (File/KTUU-DT) |
by Ted Land
Thursday, February 11, 2010
JUNEAU, Alaska -- The attorney general's office says PricewaterhouseCoopers may have violated state law when it waited more than a month to tell thousands of Alaskans that their personal information is missing.
The House Judiciary Committee wanted answers Thursday afternoon.
The company took more than a month to tell the state about the loss and the state took more than a week to tell the public.
The names, birth dates and social security numbers of 77,000 Alaskans went missing from PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was handling state information.
The Alaskans affected are anyone who was in the state's retirement system in 2003 and 2004.
The attorney general's office says it worked non-stop from the moment it learned of the loss to reach a settlement with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Under the settlement the company will pay for credit monitoring services for people whose information was lost. It is also responsible for any losses incurred by identity theft.
Thursday the House Judiciary Committee held its first hearing on the matter and had questions about why it took so long to tell the public.
In 2008 a bill was signed into law which requires a group-- whether it's the state or a private company-- to immediately notify Alaskans that their private information has been lost.
Committee members wanted to know if the state or PricewaterhouseCoopers were obeying the law.
"We think as long as they comply with the terms of the settlement agreement that they are currently in compliance and we have reached this agreement with them to take care of consumers. The state of Alaska certainly has been in compliance with that legislation and I think the timeline that I outlined demonstrates an incredible effort on behalf of a lot of people to get these things done as quickly as possible," said Assistant Attorney General Ed Sniffen.
So far the attorney general's office says there have been no reports of identity theft. For now the information is still just missing.
Letters will go out in the mail Friday to notify those who might be affected.
Contact Ted Land at tland@ktuu.com
