Companies Want Free Pass On Securing Your Info

from the we're-not-responsible-at-all... dept

With all the stories coming out of various corporate databases being hacked and your supposedly "private" info being taken, many companies are taking an interesting approach. Instead of focusing on better ways to secure the info and protect your privacy, they're sneaking in waivers to agreements, where you have to say that you give up your right to sue them, should they leak your info. It turns out that among all the legal language you go through when using Verizon Wireless' or American Airlines' online websites, they make you agree that you won't sue them if they can't keep your data secure. This doesn't give them much incentive to keep the system as secure as possible, does it? On the flip side, though, many are saying the reason they're doing this is because of recent actions by the FTC - where they sued certain companies for promising security levels they didn't meet. Since it's difficult to guarantee that the data won't be stolen, companies are resorting to these legal clauses to get around the liability issue. Of course, I wonder how enforceable such a waiver really is? If the company is shown to be grossly negligent in how they set up their security, it probably won't matter that people clicked through a waiver that they didn't read.

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