Double standards
Data breaches continue to hit the headlines. Are we being tough enough on offenders, or are we asking them to do something which we fail to do ourselves?
There is a seemingly endless supply of stories about data breeches and no-one could have failed to notice the memorable case this month of a man who bought a camera on eBay only to discover it contained photographs of classified MI5 documents. The government has been haunted by data losses throughout the year and in a recent survey of London residents, about half of those surveyed thought "the government" was the worst offender for data loss.
So should people be held accountable for losing our personal data? 89% of people in a nationwide survey commissioned by Symantec expressed the opinion that "reckless and repeated" data breaches ought to be punished by criminal prosecutions, and that punishments should include jail time for the directors of negligent firms. Furthermore, eight out of ten of those surveyed agreed with the statement that there should be a "one strike and you’re out" rule for data loss. I'm not sure what "one strike and your out" actually means or what you are out of, but the survey respondents seemed to like it.
Around 80% of those polled felt their personal data is not secure in the hands of the companies that hold it and a similar number are concerned about the amount of information which organisations hold on them. Online shopping is still perceived as the single biggest risk to their personal data but despite this, three quarters of the people in the survey said they are more likely to shop online now than they were six months ago. The main reason they give for this is price and online bargains. The safety aspects do not deter them.
In an amazing show of double standards, after being so critical of company directors for data loss, 60% of respondents then went on to hand over their own passwords in exchange for a £5 Marks and Spencer voucher. About half of those surveyed said they used either their birthday, their mother's maiden name or a pet's name as their password.
18th October 2008
This article comes from the SKILLZONE email newsletter, published monthly since January 2008, and covering topics related to technology and the internet. All articles and artwork in the SKILLZONE newsletter are orignal content.