Re:191M US Voters’ Personal Info Exposed by Misconfigured Da...
by ghaff on Monday December 28, 2015 @03:39PM
(#10803222)
I agree that there's a difference between public and non-public data.
With respect to the public data though, this is an issue which we've been wrestling with (and largely punting on) since various public records became readily available in electronic form. The fact is that, in the US, there's quite a bit of public information available about individuals. Much of this information (think home sales, past addresses, any court records) is public for historically sound reasons. However, there is a huge difference between scouring dusty town, county, and state records at considerable cost of time and money and making a few quick queries on the Internet, possibly paying a nominal fee if you really want to go deep.
But, to your point, we effectively implement privacy through obscurity/bureaucracy to shield ostensibly public information that we don't feel comfortable about anyone having access to it. But it probably works about as well as security through obscurity.
With respect to the public data though, this is an issue which we've been wrestling with (and largely punting on) since various public records became readily available in electronic form. The fact is that, in the US, there's quite a bit of public information available about individuals. Much of this information (think home sales, past addresses, any court records) is public for historically sound reasons. However, there is a huge difference between scouring dusty town, county, and state records at considerable cost of time and money and making a few quick queries on the Internet, possibly paying a nominal fee if you really want to go deep.
But, to your point, we effectively implement privacy through obscurity/bureaucracy to shield ostensibly public information that we don't feel comfortable about anyone having access to it. But it probably works about as well as security through obscurity.