[Federal Register: August 25, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 164)]
[Notices]
[Page 49924-49925]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25au05-47]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities; Reinstatement of
Existing Collection; Comment Request
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (Commission or FTC).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The FTC intends to conduct a survey of consumers to advance
its understanding of the incidence of identity theft (``ID Theft'') and
to allow the FTC to better serve the people who experience it and the
law enforcement agencies that investigate and prosecute it. The survey
is a follow-up to the FTC's ID Theft Survey conducted in March 2003 and
released in September 2003. Before gathering this information, the FTC
is seeking public comments on its proposed consumer research. Comments
will be considered before the FTC submits a request for Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) review under the Paperwork Reduction Act
(PRA), 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 24, 2005.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments.
Comments should refer to ``ID Theft Survey: FTC File No. P034303'' to
facilitate the organization of comments. A comment filed in paper form
should include this reference both in the text and on the envelope and
should be mailed or delivered, with two complete copies, to the
following address: Federal Trade Commission/Office of the Secretary,
Room H-135 (Annex E), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC
20580. Because paper mail in the Washington area and at the Commission
is subject to delay, please consider submitting your comments in
electronic form, as prescribed below. However, if the comment contains
any material for which confidential treatment is requested, it must be
filed in paper form, and the first page of the document must be clearly
labeled ``Confidential.'' \1\ The FTC is requesting that any comment
filed in paper form be sent by courier or overnight service, if
possible.
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\1\ Commission Rule 4.2(d), 16 CFR 4.2(d). The comment must be
accompanied by an explicit request for confidential treatment,
including the factual and legal basis for the request, and must
identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from
the public record. The request will be granted or denied by the
Commission's General Counsel, consistent with applicable law and the
public interest. See Commission Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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Comments filed in electronic form should be submitted by clicking
on the following Web link: https://secure.commentworks.com/FTC-IDTSurvey
and following the instructions on the Web-based form. To
ensure that the Commission considers an electronic comment, you must
file it on the Web-based form at the https://secure.commentworks.com/FTC-IDTSurvey
Web link. If this notice appears at http://
http://www.regulations.gov, you may also file an electronic comment through
that Web site. The Commission will consider all comments that
regulations.gov forwards to it.
The FTC Act and other laws the Commission administers permit the
collection of public comments to consider and use in this proceeding as
appropriate. All timely and responsive public comments will be
considered by the Commission and will be available to the public on the
FTC Web site, to the extent practicable, at http://www.ftc.gov. As a matter of
discretion, the FTC makes every effort to remove home contact
information for individuals from the public comments it receives before
placing those comments on the FTC Web site. More information, including
routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, may be found in the FTC's
privacy policy at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information
should be addressed to Joanna P. Crane, Program Manager, Federal Trade
Commission ID Theft Program, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington,
DC 20580, (202) 326-3228.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Under the PRA, Federal agencies must obtain approval from OMB for
each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. ``Collection of
information'' means agency requests or requirements that members of the
public submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a third
party. 44 U.S.C. 3502(3), 5 CFR 1320.3(c). In 2003, OMB approved the
FTC's request to conduct a survey on ID Theft and assigned OMB
[[Page 49925]]
Control Number 3084-0124. The FTC completed the consumer research in
April 2003 and issued its report, Federal Trade Commission--Identity
Theft Survey Report, in September 2003.\2\ As required by section
3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the FTC is providing this opportunity for
public comment before requesting that OMB reinstate the clearance for
the survey, which expired in June 2003.
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\2\ The Report is available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2003/09/synovatereport.pdf
.
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The FTC invites comments on: (1) Whether the proposed collections
of information are necessary for the proper performance of the
functions of the FTC, including whether the information will have
practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the FTC's estimate of the burden
of the proposed collections of information; (3) ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
(4) ways to minimize the burden of collecting information on those who
are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submission of responses. All comments should be filed as prescribed in
the ADDRESSES section above, and must be received on or before October
24, 2005.
1. Description of the Collection of Information and Proposed Use
The FTC proposes to survey up to 5,000 consumers in order to gather
specific information on the incidence of ID Theft in the general
population. All information will be collected on a voluntary basis, and
the identities of the consumers will remain confidential. Subject to
OMB approval for the survey, the FTC has contracted with a consumer
research firm to identify consumers and conduct the survey. The results
will assist the FTC in determining the incidence of ID Theft in the
general population and whether the type and frequency of ID Theft is
changing, and will inform the FTC about how best to combat ID Theft.
ID Theft has been the top consumer complaint reported to the FTC
since calendar year 2000. The information collected by the survey will
ensure that the FTC has accurate and timely information on the extent
of ID Theft and its impact on victims. This information will be highly
useful to Congress and others who often request statistical information
on ID Theft from the FTC.
The FTC intends to use a larger sample size than the 2003 survey to
allow for a more in-depth analysis of the resulting data. The
additional data points will allow for statistically significant samples
for particular types of ID Theft and particular demographic
characteristics. The questions will be very similar to the 2003 survey
so that the results from the 2003 survey can be used as a baseline for
a time-series analysis.\3\ The FTC may choose to conduct another
follow-up survey in approximately two years.
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\3\ The questionnaire for the 2003 survey is available as
Appendix A to the Report.
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2. Estimated Hours Burden
The FTC will pretest the survey on approximately 100 respondents to
ensure that all questions are easily understood. This pretest will take
approximately 3 minutes on average per person and 5 hours as a whole
(100 respondents x 3 minutes each). Based on FTC staff's experience
with the 2003 survey, the staff estimates that approximately 12 percent
of those interviewed will have experienced ID Theft within the last 5
years. Survey participants who have not experienced ID Theft in this
period of time will only be asked the initial 4 or 5 survey questions.
The staff expects that this will take less than 2 minutes. For those
who have experienced ID Theft in the last 5 years, our experience with
the earlier survey suggests that it will take about 12 to 15 minutes to
complete the survey. The staff therefore anticipates that the average
time per survey participant will be approximately 3 minutes. Answering
the consumer survey will require approximately 250 hours as a whole
(5,000 respondents x 3 minutes each). Thus, cumulative total burden
hours for the first year of the clearance will approximate 255 hours.
3. Estimated Cost Burden
The cost per respondent should be negligible. Participation is
voluntary and will not require start-up, capital, or labor expenditures
by respondents.
Christian S. White,
Acting General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 05-16888 Filed 8-24-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P