ChoicePoint CEO on the hot seat in Senate Committee Hearings

As reported last week, the US Senate Banking Committee is holding hearings to investigate the recent rash of incidents involving personal information (See: PIPEDA and Canadian Privacy Law: Senate Banking Committee to hold hearings on security of sensitive consumer information and PIPEDA and Canadian Privacy Law: Senate Banking Committee hearings on recent privacy incidents).

The CEO of ChoicePoint was scheduled to appear last week, but the committee ran out of time. Well, he appeared today and, according to MSNBC, he was put on the hot seat by the members of the committee:

MSNBC - ChoicePoint CEO grilled by Congress:

"Members of Congress grilled ChoicePoint CEO Derek Smith on Tuesday, demanding the company do more to protect customers in the wake of the massive information leak at the database giant.

'The incident has caused us to go through some serious soul searching,' Smith said, testifying at a hearing held by the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection."

I expect that the prepared statements and transcripts will soon be available from the Committee's website: U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Update: The New York Times has coverage of the hearing here: The New York Times > Business > Data Broker Executives Agree Security Laws May Be Needed