US Secure Site Wasn't
from the oops dept
The Commerce Department in the US kept a database of US companies that kept "adequate" privacy protection. The idea was that they would keep a list of such companies, and European companies could feel safe doing business with them. However, while the Commerce Department was working so hard on getting these companies to keep adequate privacy protections in place, they ignored their own privacy policies. Despite a policy that said all info submitted to the database was private, it's been entirely accessible and changeable since it went online. Anyone could go there and change whatever (sometimes confidential) info they wanted. Brilliant. Of all the sites the government runs, you'd figure this would be one that someone would have taken some time to make sure was secure.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
