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by emmapersky 4957 days ago
Why should I, as an innocent party to a companies security failings have my personal details revealed. This is exactly why we have laws protecting identity theft and fraud.

Naming and shaming the company and the extent of their security failing is enough. But only after they have patched the hole.
3 comments
babarock 4957 days ago
Because you trusted the wrong people, and this has consequences.

The customer has to suffer from the mistakes of the companies so that:

1. She stops trusting any company blindly with her data.

2. The market demands improvements from the service providers (and no, sacrificing a scapegoat in court is not an "improvement").

3. Service companies react. Unless there's a major scandal, companies are slow to react to vulnerabilities.

About that last point, it's a bit unfair to assume that the activist tried to contact AT&T and they didn't react. I honestly don't know if that's what happened in this case, and I hope it is. However there are several cases of companies "turning a blind eye" on the issue.

As a customer, the only entity to blame when such a breach occur, is the provider that you entrusted with your data. Not the activists (regardless of their intents) nor the hackers or whatever monster you heard about in the media.

If I entrust (and pay) someone with my bike and it gets stolen on his watch, who's to blame? The thief or the guardian?

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sk5t 4957 days ago
This is an excellent point... sloppy, careless companies can operate more cheaply (until they go down in flames); insulating the consumer from these security risks would introduce the same kind of moral hazard as insulating investors from the downside on risky investments.
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guard-of-terra 4957 days ago
"Why should I, as an innocent party to a companies security failings have my personal details revealed."

Because life is pain?

But of course you can always sue the company that leaked your data and then mistreated people who warned them. Hell, you should. Probably with a class action suit.

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cloverich 4957 days ago
> Because life is pain?

lol... just a touch dramatic there.

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danielweber 4957 days ago
Because shaming is a whole lot of fun.

So we will come up with whatever justifications needed to say it's okay.

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