3 comments

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  Luis Villa

  2 years ago

  So Adam, where is the post when private industry loses ten times that many names and socials? I'm not trying to minimize the problem when government does this, but your framing makes it sound as if this is merely a government problem- which is manifestly untrue, and has policy implications.
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  Michele Kunze

  2 years ago

  I flew from American Airlines on 9/9/06 from LaGuardia to ORD. I checked 2 bags. When I got home and opened the bags, where I had stored my computer laptop there was a notice saying "NOTICE OF BAGGAGE INSPECTION". My Laptop was gone. I called TSA on 9/10 AM. I filled out a form. I heard from them Nov. 3. They are offering me $312.85. The computer cost me $1,400. The letter asks me to check one of 2 boxes: "I ACCEPT this offer" OR "I REJECT this offer completely and do not wish to negotitate a settlement. I understand that by checking this option, my administrative claim will be denied"
  
  Do you know of a lawsuit against TSA???
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  Steve R.

  2 years ago

  Forbes Magazine, Sept. 7, 2006, ran an article: "Laptop Hall of Shame". While this article details, as you note, government laptop faux pas; it also goes into detail concerning the lack of corporate data laptop security. Robert Ellis Smith, of Forbes, wrote: "The monthly newsletter I publish, Privacy Journal, reported 24 serious instances of Social Security numbers and other sensitive data compromised through stolen or lost laptops in 2006. The newsletter called it the "Lost or Stolen Laptops Hall of Shame." And we still have four months left in 2006. There were at least ten incidents during the final four months of 2005. All these incidents involved companies that handle personal information routinely. (Apparently too routinely!)" (emphasis added) Clearly, the lack of security is not just a government problem, it is a universal problem. In developing a policy responsive to this issue we need to also acknowledge in any proposed policy the failure of corporations to take proactive action.