In this Act, the following definitions apply:
(1)
Breach of security— The term breach of security means the unauthorized acquisition of data in electronic form containing personal information.
(2)
Commission— The term Commission means the Federal Trade Commission.
(3)
Consumer reporting agency— The term consumer reporting agency has the meaning given the term consumer reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers on a nationwide basis in section 603(p) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (
15 U.S.C. 1681a(p)).
(4)
Data in electronic form— The term data in electronic form means any data stored electronically or digitally on any computer system or other database and includes recordable tapes and other mass storage devices.
(5)
Encryption— The term encryption means the protection of data in electronic form in storage or in transit using an encryption technology that has been adopted by an established standards setting body which renders such data indecipherable in the absence of associated cryptographic keys necessary to enable decryption of such data. Such encryption must include appropriate management and safeguards of such keys to protect the integrity of the encryption.
(6)
Identity theft— The term identity theft means the unauthorized use of another person’s personal information for the purpose of engaging in commercial transactions under the name of such other person.
(7)
Information broker— The term information broker—
(A)
means a commercial entity whose business is to collect, assemble, or maintain personal information concerning individuals who are not current or former customers of such entity in order to sell such information or provide access to such information to any nonaffiliated third party in exchange for consideration, whether such collection, assembly, or maintenance of personal information is performed by the information broker directly, or by contract or subcontract with any other entity; and
(B)
does not include a commercial entity to the extent that such entity processes information collected by and received from a nonaffiliated third party concerning individuals who are current or former customers or employees of such third party to enable such third party to (1) provide benefits for its employees or (2) directly transact business with its customers.
(8)
Personal information—
(A)
Definition— The term personal information means an individual’s first name or initial and last name, or address, or phone number, in combination with any 1 or more of the following data elements for that individual:
(i)
Social Security number.
(ii)
Driver’s license number, passport number, military identification number, or other similar number issued on a government document used to verify identity.
(iii)
Financial account number, or credit or debit card number, and any required security code, access code, or password that is necessary to permit access to an individual’s financial account.
(B)
Modified definition by rulemaking— The Commission may, by rule promulgated under
section 553 of title 5, United States Code, modify the definition of “personal information” under subparagraph
(A)—
(i)
for the purpose of section 2 to the extent that such modification will not unreasonably impede interstate commerce, and will accomplish the purposes of this Act; or
(ii)
for the purpose of section 3, to the extent that such modification is necessary to accommodate changes in technology or practices, will not unreasonably impede interstate commerce, and will accomplish the purposes of this Act.
(9)
Public record information— The term public record information means information about an individual which has been obtained originally from records of a Federal, State, or local government entity that are available for public inspection.
(10)
Non-public information— The term non-public information means information about an individual that is of a private nature and neither available to the general public nor obtained from a public record.
(11)
Service provider— The term service provider means an entity that provides to a user transmission, routing, intermediate and transient storage, or connections to its system or network, for electronic communications, between or among points specified by such user of material of the user’s choosing, without modification to the content of the material as sent or received. Any such entity shall be treated as a service provider under this Act only to the extent that it is engaged in the provision of such transmission, routing, intermediate and transient storage or connections.