Equifax Profits From Data Breaches

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   ptosisposted 7 years ago

   White House Says: After Equifax, Let's Get Rid of Social Security Numbers
   
   That is really not a solution because it won't fix the basic problem:
   
   “From 2013 until today, Equifax has disclosed at least four separate hacks in which it compromised sensitive personal data. In those four years, has Equfax’s profit gone up?” Warren asked.
   
   “Yes, Senator,” Smith responded.
   
   “Yes, it has gone up. In fact, it’s gone up by more than 80 percent over that time,” she said.
   
   The result, Warren said, was a company ― and industry ― with little incentive to invest in security measures to protect consumers’ personal data.
   
   “Equifax did a terrible job of protecting our data, because they didn’t have a reason to protect our data,” Warren concluded.
   
   https://www.yahoo.com/news/elizabeth-wa … 57038.html
   
   The company does not care about us. Months before the hack itself, Equifax could easily have patched the hole in its system that hackers exploited, but it simply didn’t.
   
   Why? Because it profits over data breaches.
   ___________________________________________
   2 Questions:
   Should the United States nationalize Equifax, Experian and TransUnion? 
   
   Should the US hand the duty of tracking our financial histories over to a public registry instead of a private profiteer?

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      wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      1. Does the government have a better record of protecting it's data?  The Clinton fiasco and continual leaks from everywhere would seem to say "no".
      
      2.  Not sure what you mean; how is a "public registry" different than "nationalizing" the three companies?

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         ptosisposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         You are very good at answering questions with questions.
         Clinton is not the freaking entire gov't - but yes, even the NSA was hacked, that not the point.
         
         Point is: profiting from hacks.
         I am not for a public registry or nationalizing.
         
         I'm for the
         S.1816 - Freedom from Equifax Exploitation Act
         https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-con … -bill/1816
         
         Personally, I think Equifax should be punished and fined since they allowed a known problem months before hacked and did nothing about it, because it makes them more money. If fined for  lack of adequate due diligence as in the Deutsche Bank case, then there be no more motivation  for leaving the barn door open for hackers.

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            wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Sorry, but that IS the point, at least to me.  When govt. does a worse job of protecting private data it's really hard to see the justification for nationalizing the private industry that does the better job just so they don't make money from being hit with a crime.  It's a MAJOR point as far as I'm concerned.  You didn't ask if they should be punished for not doing what government can't; you ask if the government should be given the task.

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               ptosisposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Hey - we agree. I just want to ask you  one question, do you support the
               Freedom from Equifax Exploitation (FREE) Act?
               
               The Freedom from Equifax Exploitation Act, which would create a standard, federal process for consumers to freeze their credit files and bar companies from profiting off data breaches.

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                  wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  If that's what it is, free freezing, I'm for it.  Sounds like a perfectly legit corporate expense to me.  Doubly so as I never contracted with them to handle my credit files.
                  
                  Not profiting - don't see how that could work.  How would we ever determine how much profit there was and how much of it was to company error.  Plus, do we charge them for an error, for intentional but legal sloppiness, or what.  That one's a lot more complicated, I think.
                  
                  One additional; I can walk into my bank, where I've been for 20 years without a single late payment over a half dozen loans, and walk out with $50,000 cash.  They don't even check the credit report - my record with them is enough.  Nice, but the result is that no credit freeze would stop getting money from them, and with my name on a new loan.

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