2 ms·

That wasn't the point of my post but what you're thinking about is actually in progress! Google PSD2 for more info :)

closeparen 9y ago
The point of your post was that companies should treat all data like credit numbers. The point of my post is that the need for a large number of parties to keep secrets is indicative of a fundamental design issue, not a caller for stricter secret-keeping standards.
- scrollaway 9y ago
  I've not expressed any particular admiration towards PCI-DSS (and if you perceived any, I didn't mean to give that impression). Furthermore, the point of my post was certainly not to treat PII/Pseudo-PII like credit card numbers. Payment card data is secret information, that's a given of the industry. If you disagree with that, I welcome you to share your credit cards in a reply here. Is it a design flaw? Yeah, you could say that; there's much better models and PSD2 will fix many things (not all) at the core of your complaints. In the mean time, having to treat credit card numbers as highly sensitive is a fact of life, and when you're trying to protect users, you have to be pragmatic, you can't live in an ideal world with theoretical technology; you have to regulate what's there. The GDPR's definition of PII is broad and contains many things which aren't secrets. I can tell you my full name, it's easy to figure it out from my profile, that's not a secret but it's still PII and GDPR asks that you treat it as such. Same for usernames, which are most often publicly visible on websites. GDPR, more than dictating what you should encrypt, gives the users a set of rights over a class of data they share with companies in order to give (european) users more trust and comfort when choosing whether to share data with those companies. Things like "I should be able to know what a company has on me, and I should be able to download it and delete it". I can't tell you the number of websites I've seen that don't let you delete accounts properly. That don't let you edit your real name (even if you get married or you legally change it!). That don't allow you any insight into where your email address ends up after you sign up with it. This is the problem that GDPR is trying to solve.
  - closeparen 9y ago
    >In the mean time, having to treat credit card numbers as highly sensitive is a fact of life It's a fact of life because the payment card industry found a legal way to externalize the risk of its idiotic architecture onto others. The networks are as motivated as can be to continue having transactions to intermediate, and had the technology for what I describe 20+ years ago. Smart cards are a 1990s technology. (Magstripes are a 1960s technology). They continue to drag their feet on the migration because we've made it cheaper to implement "security" through the legal system. Fraud losses are low enough for the industry to prefer the status quo, but high enough that credit card fraud is still a fact of life, because we have allowed it to create liability around data security.
  - jimktrains2 9y ago
    > I can't tell you the number of websites I've seen that don't let you delete accounts properly. So? Why should you be able to delete an account? > That don't let you edit your real name (even if you get married or you legally change it!). This seems like an issue for the company and one they should fix for their own good, not yours. > That don't allow you any insight into where your email address ends up after you sign up with it. I also don't have control over who my friends give my email or phone number out to, or if they sign up for facebook and facebook slurps that data (even if facebook becomes 100% truly gdpr compliant which I doubt they will even if they claim it). Why should I be able to control what other people do with something I gave them? If they breach my trust, maybe I should look elsewhere.

The point of your post was that companies should treat all data like credit numbers. The point of my post is that the need for a large number of parties to keep secrets is indicative of a fundamental design issue, not a caller for stricter secret-keeping standards.

scrollaway 9y ago
I've not expressed any particular admiration towards PCI-DSS (and if you perceived any, I didn't mean to give that impression). Furthermore, the point of my post was certainly not to treat PII/Pseudo-PII like credit card numbers. Payment card data is secret information, that's a given of the industry. If you disagree with that, I welcome you to share your credit cards in a reply here. Is it a design flaw? Yeah, you could say that; there's much better models and PSD2 will fix many things (not all) at the core of your complaints. In the mean time, having to treat credit card numbers as highly sensitive is a fact of life, and when you're trying to protect users, you have to be pragmatic, you can't live in an ideal world with theoretical technology; you have to regulate what's there. The GDPR's definition of PII is broad and contains many things which aren't secrets. I can tell you my full name, it's easy to figure it out from my profile, that's not a secret but it's still PII and GDPR asks that you treat it as such. Same for usernames, which are most often publicly visible on websites. GDPR, more than dictating what you should encrypt, gives the users a set of rights over a class of data they share with companies in order to give (european) users more trust and comfort when choosing whether to share data with those companies. Things like "I should be able to know what a company has on me, and I should be able to download it and delete it". I can't tell you the number of websites I've seen that don't let you delete accounts properly. That don't let you edit your real name (even if you get married or you legally change it!). That don't allow you any insight into where your email address ends up after you sign up with it. This is the problem that GDPR is trying to solve.
- closeparen 9y ago
  >In the mean time, having to treat credit card numbers as highly sensitive is a fact of life It's a fact of life because the payment card industry found a legal way to externalize the risk of its idiotic architecture onto others. The networks are as motivated as can be to continue having transactions to intermediate, and had the technology for what I describe 20+ years ago. Smart cards are a 1990s technology. (Magstripes are a 1960s technology). They continue to drag their feet on the migration because we've made it cheaper to implement "security" through the legal system. Fraud losses are low enough for the industry to prefer the status quo, but high enough that credit card fraud is still a fact of life, because we have allowed it to create liability around data security.
- jimktrains2 9y ago
  > I can't tell you the number of websites I've seen that don't let you delete accounts properly. So? Why should you be able to delete an account? > That don't let you edit your real name (even if you get married or you legally change it!). This seems like an issue for the company and one they should fix for their own good, not yours. > That don't allow you any insight into where your email address ends up after you sign up with it. I also don't have control over who my friends give my email or phone number out to, or if they sign up for facebook and facebook slurps that data (even if facebook becomes 100% truly gdpr compliant which I doubt they will even if they claim it). Why should I be able to control what other people do with something I gave them? If they breach my trust, maybe I should look elsewhere.