Consumer Data Responsibility

 As I write this on Friday morning, news came out this day that sort of flew under the radar what with President Biden continuing to monopolize news and conversations about his fitness to be president over the next four years. (He’s not).

            Be that as it may, the story that caught my attention and which may have already caught fire as you read this on Sunday, was a report from AT&T that there was a data breach of “nearly all” of its cellular customers.

            Data breaches are a dime a dozen these days. We are always getting reports of this company or that company having a data breach and exposing our personal information to some nefarious third party. These days I just presume that my personal information is floating out there somewhere.

            I look at the risk like the risk of getting in a car accident. There is always a risk but I hope to avoid any major damage.

            But this data breach seems different than your run of the mill Russian hacker data breach. This breach, according to the initial reports indicates that the stolen data includes records of calls and texts from nearly all cellular, wifi, and landline customers between May 2022 and October 2022.

            Now, according to AT&T, the breach does not include the content of the text messages, and I suppose we should all take that acknowledgment at face value. But is it a great leap to contemplate if the next data breach – if not this one – includes exposure of our private text messages.

            Think of the blackmail and extortion opportunities for the enterprising hacker sitting in his mother’s basement in his underwear.

            I would imagine, based on my observations of human behavior over thirty plus years in this profession that every single one of us has sent a text containing content that we would not want publicly disclosed.

            But perhaps now, the thin firewall that we believed protected our most private thoughts and conversations does not exist at all.

            I began imagining the consequences of such a reality. Apart from the obvious issues about extortion and blackmail, what impacts could disclosure of personal text messages have on continued employment, professional associations, or business opportunities.

            Could a company like AT&T or any other communications provider be held legally accountable for any damage that comes from the disclosure of private communications. If a career went up in flames, would the sole responsibility lie at the feet of the content creator – the person who sent the text message?

            If so, could a person insure against such a potential loss resultant from an inadvertent disclosure.

            All of these questions are certainly matters that need to be considered after a dozen years or more of sending text messages and other private communications through wireless connections.

            The federal Communications Decency Act generally shields internet service providers from liability for damages resulting from the disclosure of  information shared over its networks. The provision is commonly known as Section 230.

            Because of the law, for example, Facebook cannot be held accountable for speech presented on its platform by a user.

            I guess the upshot of this is that ultimately you are responsible for the content you put out over the internet including via communications services and you should always be mindful of what you are putting out into the world.