by yanowitz on 9/26/17, 1:07 PM with 264 comments
by cletus on 9/26/17, 1:52 PM
Why haven't product liability laws caught up with information services? The Equifax breach here was caused by, at the very least, reckless negligence in that they failed to patch a published vulnerability for MONTHS after it was disclosed.
Now I'm not talking about the BS class actions you get where the class gets nothing (except for the named plaintiffs who, for some reason, make out like bandits) and the lawyers make a ton of money.
What I'm talking about is having the same expectations, requirements and civil and criminal punishments that product liability would have with a physical product, at least when it comes to willful negligence of this sort.
The VW emissions scandal (rightly) is resulting in criminal prosecutions for fraud.
But the makers of routers, IoT light bulbs and the like seem to suffer no consequences for (and thus have no incentive to improve) the security of their products.
I just don't get it.
by bedhead on 9/26/17, 2:20 PM
by Multicomp on 9/26/17, 1:33 PM
That's around ~430,000,000 USD for Equifax alone [edit: if] 143M people got their credit frozen at $3 per freeze. (Obviously back of napkin math, and not everybody pays the same or even freezes their credit)
by genzoman on 9/26/17, 1:58 PM
No political figure has talked about making these companies disclose this information as soon as possible, and no political figure is furthering any type of bill to make it illegal to know about a data breach and not tell anyone for months.
American obsession and addiction to media is what caused Trump to win, and it's why egregious failures of trust such as this will continue to go relatively unpunished.
We are constantly pumping out the equivalent of crude oil into your culture at the rate of millions of gallons a second. It's all trash, and it pollutes discussion and any sort of cooperation.
Left/Right is the new religious battle, and the new holy books are blogs and twitter feeds. The media is under no obligation to tell you the truth, and in this case the lie is omission.
by rothbardrand on 9/26/17, 1:32 PM
by Overtonwindow on 9/26/17, 1:31 PM
by UnoriginalGuy on 9/26/17, 1:42 PM
Why is it that American corporations and their leadership have less oversight than your average 15 year old driver? They keep reminding us of corporate personhood when it is convenient, but where is the personhood responsibility?
Companies aren't going to spend money on security until the potential costs impact them rather than others (in this case all of us). That's something that urgently needs to change. As you can see by Equifax's stock, nobody in the stock market thinks that the governments are going to punish or collapse Equifax, and the worst part is that they're likely right (see BP for example).
This too big to fail, too big to jail, too big to punish thing is really starting to get on my nerves. Even if we aren't ready to send corporate executives to prison, let's at least fine Equifax so much they go out of business, and it sends a shot across every other business's bow about what will happen if they mishandle sensitive information.
by FussyZeus on 9/26/17, 1:34 PM
> Now if you'll excuse me, this golden parachute isn't going to pull it's own rip cord. Have fun fixing all your credit reports and enjoy Equifax's "free" data protection services, your contributions and patience (or short attention span, whichever you prefer) will be thoroughly appreciated by my successor, until he too fails too hard and has to endure a life of permanent financial security and nonstop leisure.
by whataretensors on 9/26/17, 2:11 PM
by aaroninsf on 9/26/17, 5:34 PM
They have a point. This ass hat enriched himself at the expense of customers held at gun point, and didn't even oversee due diligence in the execution of a bullshit monopoly.
Retiring to ride horses and pensively stare at the far horizon of one of his ranches and come back with think piece hagiography in 4 years on the lessons learned...
...there should be bigger consequences.
by FilterSweep on 9/26/17, 3:19 PM
Its scary how little information the media is providing on this. Equifax does not provide an FAQ over what conditions you may be affected. I don't have a line of credit, and I have never used their services personally, HOWEVER, if a prior employer used them through a background check, or if they used a 3rd party who sends my data to equifax without me knowing, I'm pwned and didn't even know it.
by vkou on 9/26/17, 4:00 PM
Naturally, not a single republican supports this legislature.
by walshemj on 9/26/17, 3:03 PM
Resigning is a known way of avoiding more serious penalties and loss of pension etc a lot of UK Police when facing serious charges suddenly resign due to stress.
Its telling that when found guilty or far less serious offences the CEO of shell resigned giving up a lot of !$
by bogomipz on 9/26/17, 2:47 PM
>"“Speaking for everyone on the board, I sincerely apologize,” Mark Feidler, the Equifax board’s new chairman"
Where is the apology from the CEO?
by pfarnsworth on 9/26/17, 1:58 PM
by rdiddly on 9/26/17, 3:29 PM
by ibejoeb on 9/26/17, 2:33 PM
by SubiculumCode on 9/26/17, 5:16 PM
by FilterSweep on 9/26/17, 2:31 PM
by politician on 9/26/17, 7:46 PM
by CodeSheikh on 9/26/17, 3:27 PM
by Animats on 9/26/17, 7:06 PM
by wnevets on 9/26/17, 2:53 PM
by yarsk on 9/26/17, 3:12 PM
by VirtualAirwaves on 9/26/17, 3:52 PM
by katastic on 9/26/17, 1:34 PM
by adekok on 9/26/17, 1:51 PM
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/equifax-executives...
by WillReplyfFood on 9/26/17, 1:36 PM
No CEO ever
Aye, the noble folks must upheld to diffent standards. Onwards, to bigger and better things they grow- they are a diffrent people, not bound to clean up after themselves. All that outdated respons-hillbillity just holds the innovation of scams back.
by yarsk on 9/26/17, 3:10 PM
by wehadfun on 9/26/17, 3:37 PM