ChoicePoint Leaked Your Data? Too Bad, Nothing You Can Do
from the how-nice dept
Adding a bit of insult to injury, as news continues to spread about how ChoicePoint handed all of your private data to a group of scammers, it turns out that the law says you pretty much have no recourse at all. Apparently, those impacted by ChoicePoint’s own inability to identify scammers using their data, have no legal standing against ChoicePoint because they’re not customers of ChoicePoint. So, ChoicePoint can collect whatever data they want about whoever they want, do anything they want with it, and those whose data is being misused have absolutely no recourse at all.
Comments on “ChoicePoint Leaked Your Data? Too Bad, Nothing You Can Do”
No Subject Given
That’s just it. ChoicePoint didn’t leak the data. ChoicePoint sold it to them. Anyone can set up a company and buy the data they (CP) sell. (Apparently they do some cursory background checks, but obviously not very thorough.) That’s what ChoicePoint does, they sell the data. The data was sold, as it is hundreds of times a day. The only thing different in this case is that the buyers were businesses set up fraudulently by a ring of identity theives. The only crime (so far) is registering the business fraudulently, and whatever fraud the ID thieves have perpetrated on the unlucky, hapless individuals whose data they used.
Sure, they sold it to someone you’d rather not have it, but they do that anyway – telemarketers, direct mail, probably even spammers.
to paraphrase the matt mcannahey character in edtv
Some of those ChoicePoint executives probably have made some interesting purchasing decisions and have other interesting data…
one can file a tort claim against anyone
You need to do nothing to file any tort, other than to pay the filing fee.
I think people with real cases will probably do so and make it hurt.
No Subject Given
ChoicePoint is real buddy-buddy with the current powermongers in the gub’ment. They might get a (highly publicized) slap on the wrist, but too bad it will be with a wet noodle.