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Glossary of Identity and Information Related Acronyms and Laws
A-F G-L M-R S-Z
ACH - Automated Clearing House, an intermediary bank which processes payments from one bank to another
ACLU - American Civil Liberties Union
ANI - Automatic Number Identification, the system that captures the phone number of any caller to an 800, 866, 877, 888 or 900 number
AMBER - America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response, a system of broadcasting information about a child abduction in progress to assist law enforcement
A-PLUS - Automobile-Property Loss Underwriting Service, the name of the system owned by the Insurance Services Office used to create your insurance claims reports
ATM - Automated Teller Machine
BSA - Bank Secrecy Act, law which established reporting requirements for banks and other entities handling money
CALEA - Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act, law that required telephone and internet service providers to makes decoding digital signals and reconstructing them into recognizable data possible for cops
CAN-SPAM - Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act, law that requires that all spam be labeled as such (though it doesn't say how), include opt-out notices and the sender's physical address, and makes using deceptive subject lines or false headers illegal
CAPPS - Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-screening System, the system that assesses the risk any individual air traveler poses a threat to the safety of the other passengers
CAT EYES - Community Anti-Terrorism Training Initiative, one of a handful of citizen watch groups who report suspicious activity to the police
CLUE - Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, name of the system owned by ChoicePoint used to create your insurance claims reports
CODIS - Combined DNA Index System, FBI database of DNA material collected during an investigation of a crime (especially sex offenses) or a missing person case
COPPA - Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, law that protects online collection of information on children under 13
CPNI - Customer Proprietary Network Information, data routinely collected by telecom companies such as the numbers you dial, how long you talk, when you called; unless you request otherwise, may be sold to marketers
CRA - Consumer Reporting Agency, sometimes used to mean Credit Reporting Agency, a company that gathers data on an individual consumer's activity and resells it to businesses and lenders
DARPA - Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Pentagon agency which engages in new technology development
DMA - Direct Marketing Association, trade association for direct marketers that also acts as a central repository for people to request removal from mailing, telephone or email lists
DMV - Department of Motor Vehicles
Do Not Call Implementation Act, law that established a federal do not call list
DPPA - Driver's Privacy Protection Act, law that limited the release of personal information from motor vehicle records.
ECU - Electronic Control Unit, a small, not-very-powerful computer that controls some aspect of your car such as shifting gears in automatic transmissions, firing spark plugs, anti-lock braking, airbag deployment, and even seat memory
EFTA - Electronic Funds Transfer Act, law which specifies rights and responsibilities of consumers and banks engaged in electronic funds transfers; spells out your liability in case your card or password is stolen
EPIC - Electronic Privacy Information Center, a non-profit privacy organization
FACTA - Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, more recent law revising the FCRA to focus on issues of fairness and accuracy in addition to the oversight spelled out by the FCRA
FCC - Federal Communication Commission, the government agency that regulates radio, television, wire, satellite and cable
FCRA - Fair Credit Reporting Act, law that allowed credit bureaus to sell credit reports to any business with a legitimate need without first asking the consumer's permission. Also specified basic consumer rights that protect you from abuse by any agency which gathers information about you.
FERPA - Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, law that gives parents (and non-minor students) the right to know about and read through all of the student's records maintained by the school
FICO - Fair Isaac Company, the company that supplies scoring software to the big CRAs
FinCEN - the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, agency that manages data supplied by banks, etc. under the BSA
FOIA - Freedom of Information Act, law that established a citizen's right to review government records unless a compelling reason not to could be demonstrated; also spelled out policies for how government should make you aware of information and procedures for how you could request access to it.
FPLS - Federal Parent Locator Service, a network of databases maintained by the government to find defaulters on child support and student loans
FTC - Federal Trade Commission, the government agency that enforces consumer protection laws
GAO - General Accounting Office, the branch of Congress responsible for auditing, evaluating and investigating government agencies and other issues to support Congressional oversight
GLB - Gramm-Liley-Bleach Financial Services Modernization Act, law that allowed greater merging between financial services companies but also restricted information sharing of individual companies; primary impact has been the creation of privacy notices that get mailed to you.
GPS - Global Positioning System, a system of satellites that can identify the location of receivers on Earth
HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, law that provides federal level privacy restrictions on medical information collected by healthcare providers, pharmacists and insurers
IAFIS - Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems, set of FBI databases that include the histories and mug shots of 45 million criminals along with the largest collection of fingerprints in existence
IAIP - Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection, formerly known as the National Infrastructure Protection Center database, a catalogue of info on attempted and suspected hacking submitted by US companies
Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act (Identity Theft Act), law that specifically make identity theft a crime
ISP - Internet Service Provider, the company that connects you to the Internet
IP address - Internet Protocol address, the unique address assigned to your computer by Internet servers
IRS - Internal Revenue Service OR Individual Reference Service
ISO - The Insurance Services Office, another big company that offers insurance claims reporting
ITS - Intelligent Transportation System, a major initiative to develop and deploy smart road systems in the United States that can manage freeway or city traffic, collect fares automatically at toll booths and bus stops and present highway alerts on LED signs.
MIB - Medical Insurance Bureau, non-profit organization that houses data on medical issues relevant to insurance underwriting decisions
NACHA - National Automated Clearing House Association, the trade group for the network of intermediary banks that function as clearing houses
NAIC - National Association of Insurance Commissioners
NCIC - National Crime Information Center, the FBI's collection of 17 databases of all information relating to criminals and crime
NCOA - National Change of Address, form filed with the US Post Office to record a change of address
NCTDE - National Consumer Telecommunications Data Exchange, the organization maintaining a database of defaulted and/or fraudulent telecommunications accounts that grew into the NCTUE
NCTUE - the National Consumer Telecom and Utilities Exchange, non-profit organization which shares information on defaulted telecom and utilities accounts
NDNH - National Directory of New Hires, database established by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 which requires a company to report all new hires to the state within 20 days.
NDPIX - National Drug Pointer Index and NVPS - National Virtual Pointer System, the database maintained by the Drug Enforcement Agency to identify all targets of drug investigations.
NHTSA - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, government agency which regulates airbags
NICS - National Instant Criminal Background Check System, the database established by the Brady Law to prevent firearm sales to convicted felons, fugitives from justice, and other disqualified buyers.
No Child Left Behind, law that established mandatory testing of school children but also restricted administration of certain tests without parental consent
PDPS NDR - Problem Driver Pointer System of the National Driver Register, a listing of drivers who have had their licenses revoked or suspended, or who have been convicted of serious traffic violations such as driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs
PIN - Personal Identification Number, a fancy name for password
PIRG - Public Interest Research Group, a non-profit watchdog group started by Ralph Nader
PRC - Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a non-profit watchdog group
Privacy Act, law that gives you the right to see any file that the government has on you and gives you the right to challenge the accuracy of any information they keep; most important, specifically requires that information only be used only for the purpose it was collected for.
RFID - Radio frequency identification, a system of transmitting information from one thing to something else which identifies the thing and processes the information it sends; notably being used in very small tags to ID consumer goods.
SAR - Suspicious Activity Report, secret report required by the BSA which informs the government of any suspicious financial activity involving $2000 or more
SCAN - the Shared Check Authorization Network, a company similar to TeleCheck that offers check verification and risk management services to retailers
SIT - Special Information Tone, the funny series of beeps that signal that the line has been disconnected.
SSN - Social Security Number
TCPA - Telephone Consumer Protection Act, law that established basic protections for consumers against telemarketers
TSA - Transportation Security Administration, the new federal agency tasked with protecting airways and sea lanes from terrorism.
TSC - Terrorist Screening Center, a relatively new program administered by the FBI that consolidates terrorist watch lists from different government agencies into a single database.
USA PATRIOT Act - Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, law which increased surveillance power of law enforcement
VIN - Vehicle Identification Number, the unique number assigned to every car sold in the US
Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act, law that mandated the e-911 system
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