I would note that, while you are absolutely correct that this is a huge harm to consumers & customers, there is also a large, mostly unrecognized, threat to national security. To grasp the import, think of the wide-scale damage endemic in mass identity theft, & access to regulated systems.

The bad guys already know this. It’s our side that does not understand our exposure.

(Disclosure: my colleagues & I work on this commercially. Obviously. We also do a lot of volunteer work to educate stakeholders, because we are so concerned about the harm to consumers, shareholders, & national security due to failure to adequately protect regulated information & systems during the meltdown.
Info here:
http://yourmortgageoryourlife.wordpress.com/information-security/)

Laura Wilson, JD, CISA candidate
Phoenix, AZ
http://www.techlex.com

Heaven knows we tried at the time. I also filled out a couple of online forms (tracking numbers probably available if I dig deep enough) to the relevant authorities pointing at our info.

If anyone wants to do follow-up on the following, you might want to check that the 1 1/2 year old contact info is still good. Things may have changed in the meanwhile.

Thanks so much, mom, I couldn’t have asked for more.

Love, John

—–Original Message—–
….
Sent: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 12:15 PM
Subject: Re: blog post – haiku for housing

Dear John, I have just spent five minutes plus on the phone with one of Tierney’s aides. She was very polite and after I requested that much time she said fine and I read the important parts of your letter and carefullly gave her the blog address so she could look it up. That’s all I can do for now …

[from my original e-mail ...]

Mom, I have a big favor to ask. In my researches into the US housing
industry I’ve discovered that in recent months dozens of small branch
offices of mortgage brokers have been going out of business daily. The
problem is that they are closing up shop so quickly that there seems
no time to properly secure the paperwork and computerized files for
their customers before they close up. When inevitably their assets are
sold at auction, the auctioneer generally has no guidance about destroying
paperwork or erasing electronic media like computer hard drives. I covered
one particular case in Newark California where the auctioneer was actually
listing HP Computers from a defunct Golden Gate Mortgage storefront to
be sold off last Wednesday. My post on this is here.
http://housingdoom.com/2007/01/28/craigslist-points-at-possible-subprime-storefront-shutdown/

This is an obvious risk for identity theft against the innocent mortgage
customers of the closed-up shops. I see that your local Congressman,
John F. Tierney, alas a Democrat but still the Chairman of the Subcommittee
on National Security and Foreign Affairs of the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, has a particular interest in Identity Theft issues.
You, or perhaps someone like [we have other
family in Teirney's district], would have more luck than
I presenting this problem to his local constituency office. …

Since I’ve posted this stuff online on the housing blog, there’s nothing
confidential about this information. Feel free to discuss it with anyone
appropriate who might be able to advise what should be done next.

Rep Tierney’s Q&A about Identity theft is here
http://www.house.gov/tierney/qa/identitytheft.shtml
and his contact form online is here
http://www.house.gov/tierney/IMA/email.shtml
where it lists his local offices:

Peabody
17 Peabody Square
Peabody, MA 01960
Phone: (978) 531-1669
Fax: (978) 531-1996
Lynn
Rm. 105, Lynn City Hall
Lynn, MA 01902
Phone: (781) 595-7375
Fax: (781) 595-7492
I’ve been in touch with a reporter working for a major New York
business publication, and they are interested in pursuing the matter,
but in the meantime, I would much like to try as many routes as
possible to inform the authorities about this problem. In my
opinion it’s something that should be addressed.