Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Receive the latest technology news and information.
Security
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
Cloud Computing
View all newsletters




Privacy Policy
 

When does a privacy breach cause harm?

March 6, 2008 12:00 PM ET

Active Comments
Publius says: Gee, I thought a business was a group of people. I'm glad I don't work for one of those nasty...
ITMoneky says: okay, so I have been living under this administration for too long that my first thought when I read this...


Computerworld - Several countries are on the verge of doing what U.S. courts have stopped short of: codifying that breaches of personal information can actually harm people. Why should U.S. companies welcome this development?

Because an international answer to this question could clarify the standard of protection that corporations have to meet with regard to personal data in their care. Finally having a clear standard could contain corporate liability and reduce companies' operational expenses. Whether the U.S. Congress also makes this leap in its deliberations over a national breach-notification bill may depend on legal experts stepping up to the plate to reshape the terms of the debate.

Let's face it: U.S. courts have botched this one. Time and again, when plaintiffs have sued companies for exposing their personal data, the only damages courts have awarded them, if any, have been for monetary losses relating to account fraud or identity theft.

On the one hand, most large data breaches don't even lead to a rash of ID thefts. As forensics firm ID Analytics Inc. has shown in a number of case studies, lost laptops and other similar breaches involving thousands of people's sensitive information resulted in only about a dozen verifiable instances of fraud.

But is monetary loss the only criterion for personal harm? Anyone who has experienced true ID theft would say the money is only a part of the equation. The countless obstacles to getting on with life, not to mention the psychological dread, can outweigh the hard-dollar losses.

So when do privacy breaches cause harm? That's what I asked Anita Allen, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's law school. Allen is scheduled to address this topic later this month at the International Association of Privacy Professionals Summit in Washington.

“Identity theft and financial fraud are one sort of harm,” Allen said. “But others include offensive publication of illicitly acquired personal information, along with hurt feelings and dashed expectations. The assault to personality and feelings is the quintessential privacy injury.”

To that end, we can all think of examples in our own lives where privacy exposures harmed us or people we knew. Predators who exploit information about children online, forwarded e-mail chains that damage relationships and compromising photos sent by cell phones are three examples that come to mind.

But what about the information potentially obtained by insurance companies and employers that could limit someone's economic possibilities, or information obtained by government agencies that threaten our sense of autonomy? These can all harm our human dignity.



Jump to comments

data breaches

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER
Approximately 60 percent of data migration projects overrun time or budget, while some fail completely. Download this white paper, "Enhancing Your Chance for Successful Data Migration," to learn the critical steps you need to take to execute a data migration project with minimum cost and risk to your business.
WHITE PAPER
Read the Gartner research note to learn why the TCO of a server-based computing deployment used to deliver all applications to users is around 50% lower than that of an unmanaged desktop deployment.
WHITE PAPER
Economic downturns have a tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions, and punish solutions that are not cost competitive or that are out of synch with industry trends. This IDC White Paper presents the results of an IDC survey of 330 companies in Western Europe, Asia/Pacific and the Americas that measures the receptiveness to Linux and takes into consideration changing views driven by the disruptive economic environment that businesses face today.

What People Are Saying

White Papers & Webcasts

Share our Strength
Download Now  

Managing Secure File Transfer to Save Time, Money and IT Resources
Learn how companies are using innovative technology to overcome these challenges and improve user productivity by offloading e-mail attachments and replacing FTP with...

Security Convergence Equals Network Security Cost Savings
Listen to IBM Internet Security Systems' take on network security convergence.

Disaster Recovery 2008: Reduced Costs and Improved Performance
How long can your Enterprise afford to be without your data? With an accelerated disaster recovery program, you never have to answer this...