Coverage for Theft of Third Party Property and Data

Posted on by

These days most policyholders are entrusted with a wide-range of third-party data from health and personal information of their employees to financial and customer records. But often, when this data is stolen insurers are reluctant to pay for thee kind of losses. In the latest online-only column from Anderson Kill & Olick, Joshua Gold points out that according to many authorities, these losses should actually be covered.

In one recent case, for example, a policyholder was the victim of a computer hacker. The insurance company refused to pay the claim, but the court rejected the insurers attempts to evade payment and ruled that the policyholder was entitled to crime coverage for the theft of customer data.

Such a ruling is not only supported by the language of many crime policies (which often contain a provision indicating that they provide coverage for the theft of property not owned but in the possession of the policyholder), but also by numerous crime insurance coverage cases over the decades.

For more on this important coverage issue, check out the rest of the article, only on RMmagazine.com.

E-payment Co. Makes Millions Selling Customer Data

Posted on by

Call me cynical, but your personal information is no longer safe . . . with any company.

Especially e-payment firm Octopus Holdings.
buy antabuse generic antabuse without prescription online

The company has admitted to selling its customers’ personal information since January 2006 and making a pretty penny off it — a whopping HK$44 million ($5.7 million USD). The personal data of 1.97 million customers was sold to six different companies, including Cigna Worldwide Life Insurance.

buy lasix online www.soundviewmed.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/lasix.html no prescription pharmacy

Octopus CEO Prudence Chan, who was speaking at a private hearing with the Hong Kong Privacy Commission, was quoted as saying the company has pledged not to provide personal data to other companies in future.

buy propecia online www.soundviewmed.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/propecia.html no prescription pharmacy

Octopus had earlier denied it sold customer data, until it was called up by the Commission to testify at an official investigation of the company’s practices, noted a report by Apple Daily. Chan then retracted the denial.
buy finasteride generic finasteride without prescription online

As one would expect, Chan is now facing pressure to resign for her mismanagement and deceiving statements.

Something good can actually come from this, however. Hong Kong’s Privacy Commissioner, Roderick Woo, proposed introducing a law to make it a criminal offense for companies to sell customers’ data. Let’s hope that proposal is taken seriously and that similar laws are proposed here in the U.

buy levofloxacin online www.soundviewmed.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/jpg/levofloxacin.html no prescription pharmacy

S.

For your enjoyment (or to merely raise the level of mistrust you may feel towards businesses and/or individuals), here is a short list of instances when the shameful act of selling customer data has occurred:

Of course, these are just a few examples of stolen customer data. If there were a master list, it would be too large for this blog. Though the U.S. has enacted the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, the Health Insurance Portability Act and the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, there is no all-encompassing law regulating the acquisition, storage or use of personal data. Let’s hope that changes soon.

Distracted Driving Criminals: Shutterbugs

Posted on by

We have repeatedly covered the national texting while driving epidemic, highlighting the huge public safety concern that it presents. Some research has found that those who text behind the wheel can travel some 100 300 yards — the length of a football field — without looking at the road.

But Stacey Higginbotham of Gigaom has pointed out something perhaps even worse: taking photos while driving.

Everyone talks about texting while driving, but what about something I think may be even more distracting: “snapping while driving,” as in taking photographs? In the last few weeks, I’ve twice been behind cars (a truck in one case) whose drivers have whipped out smartphones and taken pictures while at a light or stop sign. Austin is a picturesque city, but I was still surprised to look over on my way to an event on Wednesday evening and see the driver to my right aiming a camera phone at her right, while in moving traffic.

The photographic proof is all over the web, with my colleague Kevin sending me evidence of his own guilt on this matter. From pictures of rainbows taken while driving to photos of famous landmarks, I have to ask why people take such a risk.

Why indeed?

photographer black and white

Be sure to pull over and turn off the car before taking photos.