Deadbolt on credit

You don't leave your car unlocked with your laptop on the front seat. You lock the car, hide the laptop in the trunk.

But, in this state, there's one valuable people can't legally secure unless they've already been the victims of theft — their credit report. You can freeze your credit after you produce a police report proving that someone has stolen your identity and abused your credit. Or, in the case of sensitive, private information stolen from an employer, hospital or bank, you have to provide documentation of the data breach, such as a police report. The latter remedy has not always been easy to do since that law was passed in 2005.

Attorney General Rob McKenna often uses this analogy: Though homes in your neighborhood are being burglarized, you are not allowed to put a deadbolt on your front door unless your home is burglarized.

The Legislature is considering three bills that would give consumers the deadbolt. The bills will permit people to freeze their credit on their own initiative without proof they are victims of actual identity crime.

The credit-reporting agencies don't like this and neither do some retailers — how are consumers going to impulsively purchase huge, flat-screen TVs if they can't open lines of credit?

But the bills all have "quick-thaw" provisions so consumers, using personal-identification numbers, can temporarily thaw their credit freeze, get the loan and make the purchase.

So many institutions entrusted with sensitive information have inadvertently released such information or had it stolen.

The Legislature in recent years has tightened up this area of the law. But with the ongoing incidence of data breaches, it has to permit consumers to put their own lock on this valuable — their good names.