ChoicePoint fine could indicate tougher FTC enforcement efforts - Computerworld

Link: ChoicePoint fine could indicate tougher FTC enforcement efforts - Computerworld. Computer security isn't just about protecting the data stored on your network or your local computer. Much information, as lawyers know, is stored in public and private databases which collect data on all of us. Motor vehicle records, Judgment records, Social Security records, and so on. Some of these records are public records; and some are, by law, private. Most of us use companies that store these records to obtain information to assist us in our practices. I use Accurint, recently acquired by Lexis-Nexis. The Ten Million Dollar fine just agreed to by ChoicePoint highlights the risks of storing and making such information available. Finding the right balance between privacy and information flow in an Internet world is problematic, to say the least. Most of us have no illusions that any data is really private anymore. Perhaps making those who misuse it legally responsible is the way to work on the problem.