Never ever blame the victim, isn't that what people say about crime victims?
Apparently no one told CNN, because this morning on "American Morning" Soledad O'Brien and Stephanie Elam attacked TJX Cos., the parent of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls among other stores, accusing the company of dishonesty after the company suffered massive data theft by hackers.
"None of these companies are ever forthcoming about it," O'Brien said in a huge generalization. "You always have to uncover it, investigate it, dig and dig and dig and then eventually they come up with a number which is probably a little on the low side."
"Minding Your Business" reporter Stephanie Elam agreed, complaining about the length of time it took TJX to disclose that 45.7 million credit and debit card numbers had been stolen affecting nearly 500,000 customers.
"We first heard about this in December, but they didn't really tell us until yesterday exactly what was going on," Elam said on March 30.
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---It is a victim ,but this c
March 30, 2007 - 13:48 ET by Quidnunc Savant---It is a victim ,but this company has responsibility for your info it keeps on file on computers . Which is done primarily for it's own covenience.
"Go f*#& yourself , I say what I want." Oriana Fallaci
Julia,I agree with Savant her
March 30, 2007 - 14:17 ET by RoverJulia,
I agree with Savant here. Actually, the company is not the victim, the victims are the customers whose credit data the company had a responsibility to protect. Yes, of course the hackers are the criminals. But the company appears to be irresponsible.
I don't know, from what you've reported above, if the company did enough to notify and protect its customers, and Solidad's complaint is that the company didn't respond to the media to satisfy her; or if the company actually tried to cover up what happened from its customers as well as the media.
Generally, though, I think Solidad, considering that this was in a business forum, has a legitimate story about the company's potential negligence.
Rover
TJX quickly attempted to ge
March 30, 2007 - 22:39 ET by Ken ShepherdTJX quickly attempted to get to the bottom of this. They didn't cover up wrongdoing or the lapse in security:
That said, CNN's "business" reporters often cast about biz reporting from a decidedly negative or skeptical tone, rather than from an ethic of reporting biz news straight up and trying to make it understandable and relatable to a general audience.
CNN's Saturday program "In the Money" often is a bash-business fest, unlike Fox's Saturday morning lineup which focuses on which companies are doing well and how Fox viewers can track market trends for their own personal enrichment.
First of all, you're fallin
March 30, 2007 - 14:13 ET by sarcasmoFirst of all, you're falling into the same NewSpeak trap about the word "hacker" that's common in the news media despite the reality of a community with a distinct & IMO-moral exploration-only ethic (whether or not you agree with it) which condemns theft, and I can't allow that to pass without comment. If the media had been interested in the least in getting this stuff right (as opposed to parrotting big-government/telco propaganda) they could have easily gotten a clue in 1986. It's not just about blame the victim here, IMO. Corporations which store personal data have a responsibility to hire someone with at least half a clue about security threats, and often this means an inconveniently-independent person who doesn't always have a nice degree or an asskissing attitude toward management. Security threats from unethical crackers increasingly abound, because security is at odds with both ease of use and the useless whizbang-bullcrap some people really-like, such as animated cursors. For an example of why folks might want to worry a bit more about this issue, let's use yesterday's news straight from the horse's mouth.
JMR
There are two issues here:
March 30, 2007 - 14:25 ET by Sonny LykosThere are two issues here:
1. The corporate offices (a) did not do enough to protect the personal info and (b) protect the credit of their customers, and (c)apparently didn't notify these same customers of the problem.
2. The "criminals" committed a criminal act, or multiples of acts - still all crimes.
I saw absolutely no discussion of issue #2. Everything else about this story is pure conversation.
I'm not sure how #2 IS an i
March 30, 2007 - 14:38 ET by sarcasmoI'm not sure how #2 IS an issue. Crime is crime, and another big financial target getting knocked-over is ho-hum, not much news these days IMO due to what I described above WRT the right person to hire. My issue here is that we need the news media to get used to another word for e-criminals, besides "hacker," because that term is used to describe themselves by the very people whose technical skills gave us the email & internet, among other very-nice things. The most obvious nominee is "cracker," but e-criminal or script kiddie or any of a half dozen others would probably do for more accuracy. And because I've talked to the media before on this issue, I can tell you the excuse: They don't want to try to teach nontechnical people they consider stupid anyway about another word, even though one's obviously needed, and (here's the biggie!) almost-nobody in the hacker community tends to have anything to do with ad-buying decisions. Think about it...
JMR
I think it's ironic that thos
March 30, 2007 - 14:47 ET by kathleenirishI think it's ironic that those media folks like Soledad O'Brien get so worked up about something they really don't care about. I mean, all the illegal aliens who are able to use stolen identities to live in this country are supported by her and her buddies. They tend to be the ones who benefit the most from crimes like the stealing of credit card information....just the tip of the iceberg...
BIG PHONY SOLEDAD. You just want to bash a private business and corporation.
I was one of those whose credit cards were affected so I am in no way enamoured of TJX. I freely admit, though, I hate the liberal media way more than TJX any day, despite their idiocracy.
"He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere" -Ali ibn-Abi-Talib, 4th Islamic Caliph
These 'Minding your Business
March 30, 2007 - 16:29 ET by rimskyThese 'Minding your Business' and 'On Your Side' snippets are hard to tolerate. TJX certainly has some culpability here, and I'm sure they're going to pay dearly for this (increased insurance costs, customers not returning, etc.), but typically O'brien and her cohort Elam just have editorialize, doing their best to put a negative slant on all retailers with a generalization such as "None of these Companies.." infruiating!!
I think it's interesting th
March 30, 2007 - 16:48 ET by robert108I think it's interesting that lefties never blame the criminals, only those who fail to prevent their crimes from being committed. In a free society, crime prevention is difficult, but in a dictatorship, it's much easier. Think about it...
Cash works well all the time,
March 30, 2007 - 17:46 ET by Dan The Man 2Cash works well all the time, in fact if people used more cash the world would be in a better place.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark. -- save my gun, shoot a liberal.
Criticizing TJX
March 30, 2007 - 19:18 ET by nkviking75I may be showing my ignorance, but why does being hacked automatically indicate a failure to protect data? Isn't the nature of hacking to find ways around security, including beating the newest and best security out there? I don't know if TJX was lax or not, but unless there's something I'm missing, I'm not sure that lax security is a given here.
My understanding is that TJX
March 30, 2007 - 21:35 ET by dahliatraversMy understanding is that TJX took far too long to tell their customers about this breach of security and compromise of their credit cards, nkviking75. Having said this, Soledad obviously couldn't resist this opportunity to bash the eeeevil corporation.
actually...
March 31, 2007 - 17:06 ET by Pragmatic-ManActually, TJX was proactive from the business side, just not the media side. I was a possible victim, and my bank was contacted by TJX to cancel affected cards before fraud could be perpetrated. I found out about my card being cancelled from my bank, and would think that the media should be last in line for the info on this one. Take care of the customer first, then feed the dog.