Bill > H2860

This bill amends existing law to further protect citizens from skimming and radio frequency identification (RFID) theft by defining key terms and establishing penalties for unauthorized access to personal information. It clarifies that "radio frequency identification" involves using electromagnetic waves to read personal data from RFID documents, and defines "radio frequency identification reader" as a device that can read such tags, which are electronic identifiers containing various data about an item or person. The bill also defines "reencoder" as a device that transfers encoded information from one payment card to another, and "scanning device" as any electronic tool used to read information from a payment card's chip or magnetic stripe. "Skimming" is defined as using a scanning device or reencoder to get personal identification information with the intent to commit fraud or other unlawful acts. Crucially, the bill creates a new offense: anyone who, with intent to defraud, obtains another person's personal identifying information through skimming or by using an RFID reader without that person's explicit permission will face a fine of up to $10,000, up to two and a half years in jail, or both.