New US law gets tough on theft of identity

In a White House Roosevelt Room ceremony, Bush put his signature on the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act, which he said "sends a clear message that a person who violates another's financial privacy will be punished."

The Federal Trade Commission has said it received more than half a million consumer complaints in 2003 as scam artists financed their spending sprees with other people's credit cards and hucksters sold nonexistent products through online auction sites like eBay Inc.