Long-Term Liability For One-Time Security Breaches?

An anonymous reader writes "Not a month goes by where we don't hear about a theft of some organization's laptop containing sensitive personal information, not to mention the even more frequent — but often kept secret — breaches into company networks and databases. It is definitely true that you should be responsible for the security of your information when you handle it, but what happens when the theft of your information is not your fault? You have handed over this information to a company or organization and trusted them to keep is secure, but they failed. They might notify you of the breach or theft, and they might even set up a credit monitoring service for you for a year or two, but the problem is that this information may be used years from now. Is it fair that you have to worry for decades and pay for further credit monitoring when they are to blame for your information ending up in the wrong hands?"

Comments

Is it fair?

[fyngyrz]

No. Who told you life was fair?

You're responsible for protecting yourself. Don't expose your data unless you need to; then change it if you can. Don't put your money where it can be stolen. Etc. (Wo)Man up. The world is not here to wrap you in cotton balls.

Re:They should be penalized for failure to disclos

[XanC]

Anybody who uses a card with the Visa or MasterCard logo which is connected directly to his bank account (a so-called "check card") deserves what he gets.