Equifax’s Maddening Unaccountability
I’ve lost count of the number of times in recent years that I’ve been informed by a corporation of such a breach. “We regret to inform you ….” I don’t doubt that companies regret these things, but I don’t think they care that much either. To them it means just a few days of bad press and at most a fine that amounts to a minuscule portion of their profits. With penalties like that, why would companies bother to make things better?
.. the underlying reason is political, and it’s pretty simple: Big corporations have poured large amounts of money into our political system, helping to create a regulatory environment in which consumers shoulder more and more of the risk, and companies less and less
.. The Equifax executives who let my data be stolen will probably suffer fewer consequences than I will for an overdue library book.
.. I’ve found that institutions serving less-advantaged students tend to have less-forgiving policies for late papers, missed exams, casual drug use and so forth, whereas more elite institutions tend to be more forgiving. All young people deserve compassion, second chances and flexibility — but the poorer ones even more so, since they have fewer resources with which to combat adversity when it strikes. Yet the reality is the opposite.