New state privacy laws for '06

The Washington Times ran a story on January 3, 2006 with an overview of new state privacy/identity theft laws that either came into force on January 1 or are on the horizon. There's also an overview of the debate about federal pre-emption:

New state laws seek to halt identity theft - Business - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

Twelve states have credit-freeze legislation, which allows residents to block new creditors from accessing their credit reports and helps prevent identity thieves from opening spending accounts using a stolen name.

Credit-freeze laws in Connecticut, Illinois and New Jersey were enacted Sunday, while Maine's will become effective Feb. 1 and Colorado's July 1.