Whilst no one around here is interested in any of your data folks there are companies who buy and sell it to create things like credit scores etc that many people find helpful when they need such services, so what about when it all goes wrong and your private data is exposed for all to see, or worse you didnt even know comapnies where hoarding data on you ?
Heres one story the EFF have been following since 2017 when many US citizens had their data exposed by a massive data breach at a credit reference company.
After Equifax’s calamitous 2017 data breach, its settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the private attorneys representing victims appears to offer two potential remedies to all 147 million American consumers affected: free credit monitoring, or if individuals already had free credit monitoring, an up to $125 cash payment. The FTC directed consumers affected by the breach to a third-party website where they could quickly and easily file their claim.
At the time, EFF tepidly commented on the settlements’ efforts to compensate consumers. But we also noted that the $125 payments would come from a $31 million fund, meaning that if all 147 million victims chose the payment, each person’s payment would be reduced on a pro rata basis to as little as 21 cents each.
It seems then that the value of your privacy is limited to the bank balance of the data miners, this is more than insulting I think you would all agree given they charge more than that to clients whom want to spy over that same data.
The EFF sets out a set of remedies in the article that are clear and concise in just what is required in terms of protections and when things go wrong real compesations for affected data subjects (thats the nice term for
you folks ..lol)
Information fiduciary and national data breach notification rules
This one is simple: companies that collect your personal information should have a legal duty to protect it. A strong information fiduciary law would require that companies follow best practices and exercise care to protect user information as a matter of course—not as a negotiated settlement years later.
Private right of action and real damages
We need to ensure a direct, private cause of action for data breaches and other digital privacy harms to give victims a more reasonable day in court than they have now. Because data harms can be hard to quantify financially, the law should provide statutory or liquidated damages, like it does for illegal wiretapping, where Congress long ago recognized that there should be no requirement to show financial harm in order to recover.
Data broker registration
Data brokers harvest and monetize our personal information without our knowledge or consent. Worse, many data brokers fail to securely store this sensitive information, predictably leading to data breaches. One good way to facilitate better oversight comes from Vermont’s new data privacy law, which requires data brokers to register annually with the government.
Non-discrimination rules
Pay-for-privacy is unfair. The law should prohibit companies from denying services, charging different prices, providing different quality levels, or otherwise discriminating against users who choose more private options.
Stronger rule-making authority for the FTC
Federal regulators must have the authority and funding to write and enforce consumer privacy rules. Congress should empower the FTC—an expert agency once tasked with data privacy regulation—to set and enforce sound security standards.
No federal pre-emption
Federal law should set a floor—not a ceiling—for privacy protection. States, as our “laboratories of democracy,” must retain their power to respond to technological changes and constituent concerns by enacting innovative data security policies.
No new criminal liability
And finally, one thing to avoid: existing computer crime laws are already extremely unfair and overbroad. That causes real harm and injustice. It also threatens the very security researchers—like the one who found an Equifax bug before the breach—who work to protect the rest of us. Any new efforts to address data breaches should focus on incentives to protect data rather than further expanding criminal liability for coders.
As always the EFF gets to the point of the matter and shows the way ahead to safeguard your rights in the digital age, if you agree feel free to Donate something to their work in fighting online injustice and helping shape wider digital policy.
https://supporters.eff.org/donate/join-eff-4
