IDScan.net Breach Exposes the Dangers of Online ID Checks

I'm writing as a constituent about something that has genuinely unsettled me: the recent IDScan.net breach. In case you haven't seen the reporting — Brian Krebs broke the story — a dark-web service called Nexus began advertising what it claimed were 153 million scans of driver's licenses, plus over 10 million other identity cards, travel documents, and medical cards. These came from a Louisiana-based identity verification company used at over 20,000 locations, including major national brands, and conducting more than 21 million verifications every month. The FBI's New Orleans field office opened an investigation into it on September 1. Krebs confirmed his own license was in the database. So was the license of the U.S. Defense Secretary. I raise this because New York and other states keep moving toward laws requiring ID checks for online activity, whether accessing content or speaking on platforms. The stated goal is protecting children, and I don't dismiss that concern. But here is my problem: these laws effectively require millions of Americans to hand over government-issued identity documents to private databases before they can use the internet, and we now have hard evidence that such databases get looted. Once that data leaks, it doesn't leak for a day. Names, birthdates, addresses, and license scans circulate forever, fueling identity theft and, ironically, enabling minors to obtain fake credentials far more easily. So I have a straightforward question, and I'd appreciate a direct answer rather than a form letter: given what just happened, how can you support legislation that mandates online ID checks in the U.S.? What is the mechanism — in any bill you're backing — that protects citizens when the verifier is breached? Will you commit to opposing ID-check requirements until such protections actually exist? Privacy isn't a partisan issue. The people who elected you deserve to know why their papers are being collected, by whom, and who pays when that collection fails.