Once a hot-button item, data and identity theft protection has stalled in Congress, a research analyst said Thursday, pushed aside by bigger political fish, ranging from Iraq and Hurricane Katrina to domestic spying and Supreme Court nominees. Despite a year’s worth of highly publicized security breaches and a lot of talk in Congress this summer on ways to protect consumers, there’s been too little done to protect U.S. consumers’ data, said Gartner research director Avivah Litan. Full Story