[privacy] 93,754,333 Examples of Data Nonchalance

[security curmudgeon]

: > > vulnerability of personal data, companies and institutions of every
: > > shape and size - like the data broker ChoicePoint, the credit card
: > > processor CardSystems Solutions, media companies like Time Warner and
: > > dozens of colleges and universities across the land - have collectively
: > > fumbled 93,754,333 private records.
: >
: > And given that most of the breaches have been in the US, it's safe to guess
: > that most of the 93M have been US resident's records.  With the population
: > sitting at just under 300M, that means a 1 in 3 chance your stuff has
: > been swiped.
: 
: err not really. Their math is FUD tainted. You have to at least subtract 
: the 26 million they included with the VA laptop that was recovered.

So because the data was out of their control for over a month, but they 
happened to get the laptop back.. the data is just magically 'safe' and 
wasn't compromised? How do they know?

: I am not saying that people dont mishandle data, or that the entire 
: system isnt flawed to begin with (I doubt very much that FDR was 
: concerned about Information Security), just that they drummed up the 
: numbers a little.

Also remember that PRC does not track non US dataloss incidents.