Loss of Personal Info As Stressful As Losing a Job

An anonymous reader writes "Americans feel most vulnerable about the loss or theft of their personal or financial information, according to a national survey. 54% of Americans said the prospect of losing this data 'extremely concerned' them. Losing personal or financial information ranked similar to concern over job loss and not being able to provide healthcare for their family. In terms of specific risks within the online threat landscape, identity theft ranked as the chief fear. Nearly a third of Americans reported identity theft as their greatest concern to personal safety and security on the Internet. The fear of someone hacking into their financial information or accounts ranked a close second, with a quarter of Americans listing it as their greatest worry."

Time to act

[trifish]

Send this link to the following people:

- Facebook CEO, who said that the meaning of the word privacy is changing thanks to Facebook and that the need for and expectation of privacy on the Internet should be and will be a thing of the past.

- Google CEO, who said that if you don't want other people to know about something you do, you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.

These people need to realize that respecting and protecting privacy of their users is mandatory, not a thing of the past.

The FBI thinks differently

[wraithguard01]

I wonder what percentage of Americans are worried about loosing their intellectual property?

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/08/10/216252/FBI-Prioritizes-Copyright-Over-Missing-Persons [slashdot.org]

Re:Makes sense.

[hedwards]

Indeed, the one time my information got stolen, it was the result of incompetence on the part of TD Ameritrade. Just last week I got another call from scammers at the "US Pharmacy" wanting to know about my prescriptions for Cialis and Viagra. I'm not a doctor, but I don't think that people generally take those medications together. I suspect the results would be somewhat less enjoyable than one would expect. Last time they called they wanted to know about my prescription for Benzodiazapene. I have prescriptions for none of those medications, they were just trying to trick me into giving them my CC number. I called him a liar and hung up immediately. Piece of shit ought to be in pound me in the ass with a "male enhanced" dick prison.

Whoever at TD Ameritrade was responsible for maintaining the security of their databases, I feel similarly about. The settlement was an absolute insult. After they lost the information they were allowed to pay people back with free trades. Only an idiot would still be with a firm that was that disinterested in proper security measures. Meaning that they paid a few cents per person and got off basically free for those of us with the intellect to move our money elsewhere.