Last week Professor Todd Zywicki claimed on national television that S.256 would add protections for people who were the victims of identity theft (“This is a bill that is about people actually stealing social security numbers and then using it to get people to file bankruptcy”). Someone should send him a copy of the bill and tell him to read it.

The only reference in the bill to identity theft (Section 234) permits the bankruptcy court to refrain from disclosing certain information if it is likely to create an undue risk of identity theft. It says nothing about protecting American families whose bankruptcy filings are the result of identity theft.