No Harm, No Foul In Yet Another Data Leak Case
from the yet-again dept
Over the last few years we've been hearing story after story after story about data leaks. These kinds of leaks didn't just start happening, but we're finally hearing about them because of new laws that require disclosure. One of the big problems is that there's very little risk to companies if they leak someone's data. They issue an apology, agree to pay for one year of credit monitoring and go back to storing data in easily leaked ways. Not surprisingly, many of the folks whose data was put at risk don't feel that's adequate and have tried to sue over the matter, but in a decision that mimics earlier decisions the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has said that those suing Old National Bancorp have no right to sue, because nothing was actually done with the leaked data. In other words, since they weren't directly harmed, they don't have standing to sue. You can understand the legal reasoning here, but it still makes you question why simply leaking data shouldn't be considered negligence on the part of these companies, even if the data wasn't later used for criminal purposes?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.
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Filed Under: data leaks, liability
Companies: old national bancorp
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That's BS. It's personal information given to a company with the promise that it will be kept private. It seems that the Old National Bancorp has probably made some hefty political 'donations' recently.
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plain sense
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Has anyone ever discussed copyrighting their personal information, and only "licensing" it to the banks and credit card companies? then upon breach, suing under the DMCA?
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hearing about them because of new laws
Why corporate officers? Because they are responsible for running the company. They sure take credit when profits are made.
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hmmm
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Lets use this logic on Civil Copy Right Infringeme
The real problem is that there are not real criminal penalties for privacy breaches. Which there should be, since it might force some companies, with dubious justifications, not to require and/or retain personal information.
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