The public might have a point

This week, we published a story (sub req'd) about a B-M survey that found that Americans are most concerned with identity theft. As if on cue, we've had news of two security breaches that could put people's identities at risk - hackers made their way into a UCLA database giving them access to the private records of 800,000 people and a laptop recently stolen from a Boeing employee contained the personal information for 382,000 Boeing workers.

The release of this survey should put these organizations in crisis communications mode. Could someone with a good lawyer sue these organizations for any damages they may incur if their identities are stolen? (Boeing is providing three years of free credit monitoring to the affected employees and one UCLA alumnae thinks someone took out a car loan in her name.) Now that their greatest fear seems well-founded, will consumers grow increasingly weary, not just with these organizations but also with any organization in possession of their personal information?

Which companies are going to step up with more talk about how they are working to keep their customers identities safe?