TJX vs. Hannaford – Privacy Exposed
This comment was posted on an earlier blog trail I started from a gal named Catherine.
"Comment:
Well I now have proof that the Marshalls (a TJX Company) is screwing over people. I shop at the Marshalls in Redwood City California and everytime you bring a "Name" brand piece of clothing to the counter that is on sale they dispute the sales price and tell the customer it is a mistake. This has happened to me 6 times in the last 2 months. The most recently today and when I went back to purhcase the garment at my lawyers urging it had been sold. Well guess to who........to an employee. I think something strange is going on.........."
Awful. You'd think they might be trying to be pure and sympathetic to the nightmare they have caused many, but clearly they aren't either.
Instead, I'm now watching New England supermarket chain Hannaford being dragged through the coals for a similar incident – only Hannaford didn't really do anything wrong. They were hacked the old fashioned way, and as soon as they found out, they shut it down and told everyone. They, unlike TJX, followed the Visa credit card security guidelines perfectly – which shows you that no matter what, if bad folks want to do bad things, they will find a way. Hannaford didn't even save credit card numbers – these hackers somehow stole them real-time during the transaction – not by breaking into the database where the payload sat – there was no payload.
Perhaps it's because they are from Maine, but Hannaford did everything right, both before, during, and after this event, yet they are being sued and dragged through the news almost daily. TJX got away with doing everything wrong and got a slap on the wrist. Why is that, I wonder? Public company versus private? Lying works better than the truth? Politics? Hmmmm.
Hang in there, Hannaford.
You're right - it's not fair. This is a textbook case of why it's not good enough to just react - even if you do it perfectly!
Another example: the $54 million lawsuit against Best Buy around the data on one laptop: http://storageeffect.com/2008/02/14/lost-data-bites-best-buy/
Information is now too important to customers and businesses for businesses to consider "following the process" an adequate security policy.
Posted by: Pete Steege | April 07, 2008 at 09:50 AM