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THE BIG IDEA
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THE IT SOCIETY / Issue 01/2022
Who Should Pick Up the Tab for Privacy?
RAJU CHELLAM SCS Fellow Chief Editor, AI Ethics & Governance Body of Knowledge Vice-President, SCS Cloud Computing Chapter
In 2021, about 50 million US consumers fell victim to identity theft. While traditional identity fraud accounted for about US$13 billion of the total US$56 billion losses, the bulk (or US$43 billion) was due to criminals phishing to steal personally identifiable information (PII) via robocalls and emails.1
Let’s start with a privacy parable. A factory had a power outage that ground the manufacturing line to a halt during the night shift. The news reached the CEO, who called the plant on the landline without identifying himself. “What’s wrong with the power?” he demanded. “If we knew what’s wrong, we’d have fixed it,” the factory worker who picked up the call replied. “Find out what’s wrong and fix it asap,” the CEO said. “Who are you to tell me what to do?” the factory worker snapped at the CEO. “Do you know who I am?” the CEO shouted. “I’m your CEO.” “Do you know who I am?” the worker asked. “No.” “Phew! Thank God!” the worker said and hung up. If the story above made you smile – great! Because the following statistics are about to make you shudder.
1
2021 Identity Fraud Study by Javelin Strategy & Research.
