Washington ? A Senate committee will conduct hearings on identity theft and information brokers following the revelation that a databank with information on millions of people was accessed by criminals, the committee chairman said Thursday.

Democrats, including Sens. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Dianne Feinstein of California and Charles Schumer of New York, have been calling for a Judiciary Committee inquiry into whether more regulation of companies such as ChoicePoint Inc. that buy and sell personal data is needed.

“I got a letter from Senator Leahy yesterday on identity theft issue and I immediately said we can hold a hearing,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

Specter did not give a schedule for the hearings.

Formed in 1997 as a spinoff of credit reporting agency Equifax Inc., ChoicePoint has 19 billion public records in its database at its suburban Atlanta headquarters, including motor vehicle registrations, license and deed transfers, military records, names, addresses and Social Security numbers.

It revealed last week that thieves apparently used previously stolen identities to open ChoicePoint accounts and received volumes of data on consumers, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers and credit reports.

Choicepoint says 144,778 people may have been affected by the breach, while California authorities estimate up to 500,000. The ring operated for more than a year before it was detected and used the information to defraud at least 750 people, investigators said.

Feinstein says the ChoicePoint thefts prove that there needs to be federal regulation of information brokers, and that Americans need to have more control over their personal data.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., notes the availability of personal information on Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston obtained from Westlaw's Internet-based People-Find data base during a news conference Thursday on Capitol Hill. A Senate committee will conduct hearings on identity theft and information brokers after the revelation that a databank with information on millions of people was accessed by criminals.

“The ChoicePoint situation is perhaps the biggest indication of the vulnerability and lack of protection of individuals’ personal data,” she said.

She has introduced a bill that would expand nationwide a California consumer protection law that requires companies to tell people if there is a breach in their data systems. She also wants information brokers to be forced to ask permission from people to sell their most sensitive personal information.