by Duane Gundrum

Created on: December 31, 2007

The reason why personal information would not be safe with government and private businesses has more to do with lack of accountability than process or experience. Simply put, the people who work for the government have historically held to a standard of lacking accountability for personal misdeeds. In the cases involving identity theft that have stemmed from gross negligence of government workers, there has been little to no actual emphasis on protecting the people who will become the victims; instead the emphasis has been to avoid blame and to put forth a "it happens all the time, so don't worry about it" attitude.

A few years ago, a government contractor lost a laptop with the personal information of veterans who have served in the US military. The "accountability" response from the Administration of Veterans Affairs was to send out a letter stating there was a breach of information, and they didn't think anything bad would happen because of it, and if something bad did happen, please let them know.

That is not accountability, but unfortunately that is how a government responds in an atmosphere where everyone avoids blame and no one seeks responsibility.

So, no, your personal information will not be safe with governments and private businesses. The government is comprised of people who are looking out for themselves while businesses are comprised of people who serve to bring profit to the company for whom they work. Neither entity is concerned about any type of responsibility to the rest of us, and anything that purports to be that is simply lip service. History is the marker in this game, and historically there hasn't been a whole lot of positive behavior to indicate anything in the future will be any better.

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