This act intends to primarily help customers fight the growing crime of identity theft. FACTA mandates proper disposal of customer information.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a rule that will require businesses to properly dispose of and destroy sensitive consumer data. The rule is one of several requirements intended to combat consumer fraud, identity theft and protect privacy required by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACT) which was enacted in December 2003.
The new FACT Act Disposal Rule broadly covers "any record about an individual, whether in paper, electronic, or other form that is a consumer report (also known as a credit report) or is derived from a consumer report." It required any person or company that possesses or maintains such information to take "reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to or use of the information in connection with its disposal."