Banking and medical information are kept secure through federal regulations. Why should we trust the states that have already shown either their inability or unwillingness to remedy the issue?

Experian fiasco (and others that came* long before) taught us the shortcomings of these types of regulations.

Do you really feel like banking and medical records are being kept secure? If so I envy your confidence.

Compare that to the way our messages are being encrypted these days (iMessage comes to mind) and i think we’d find the regulation to be lacking.

The incentive provided by regulations (I.e. jail time or fines) doesn’t compare to incentives derived from competition, or (heaven forbid) profit.

It’s, for better or for worse, human nature.

Lowest-cost bidding among companies is going to do better? Security is often the first thing to go when your company’s survival depends on tiny margins

> ATMs are secure because banks would lose money if they weren’t. Not because of regulation.

Banking is heavely regulated. I agree that security is good business practice. But, to disregard regulations without proof is a big leap of faith.

Banking have survived thanks to government intervention. And to start with got itself in a mess because Great Depression era regulations where removed.

> ATMs are secure because banks would lose money if they weren’t

Now that's wishful thinking. Do you know how hard it is to get your money back from fraudulent transactions caused by compromised ATMs (card skimmers etc - the kinda thing Krebs routinely writes about)?

The banks don't lose their money, they lose your money, and good luck proving this in many countries around the world including the US, UK, Europe.