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Shouldn't the Victims Be Compensated?
Posted on Apr 19, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
An article appeared on the NetWork World website about a CVS Pharmacy in Texas facing fines for throwing valuable customer information into a dumpster behind the store. It’s not the first time it’s happened and it certainly won’t be the last.
But what I find disturbing is what happens when a company gets caught in the act? The article mentions that if a company violates Texas law by exposing its customers to identity theft in this way it is subject to a $50,000 penalty per violation with $500 in fines per unprotected record. What I don’t understand is why the victims are not entitled to this compensation. Sure, CVS will probably throw in a free credit monitoring service for the victims, but what about compensation for the victims’ time cancelling credit cards, pulling credit reports, changing bank account numbers and just plain worrying that they’ve become a victim? Shouldn’t the company that’s responsible for the negligence be required to compensate the victim? If the penalties were steeper and paid directly to the victims, you can bet retailers would be more careful with the information they keep on their customers.
Filed under: Data Breach, Identity Theft
Tags: CVS, identitytheft, idtheft
Comments
Dave on Apr 20, 2007
It doesn't surprise me at all that the government hasn't set up some kind of compensation for the victims. All they see is a way for more revenue for the politicians, and who cares about the victims. The problem is going to be, if the victims get the funds, then the politicians won't make any real effort to stop the problem. They will just turn it over to the states who don't have the man power or resources to enforce any of it and the victimization will just roll on, and the Identity theafs already know this and have little or no fear of being caught.
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