3 ms·

> and that if the error rate improves even a little bit they're not all that far from what most people would describe as an acceptable error rate. A 2% error r

by mlyle 4y ago

> and that if the error rate improves even a little bit they're not all that far from what most people would describe as an acceptable error rate. A 2% error rate is not super acceptable depending on the outcomes. IMO, the big issue: most of the cost of errors is externalized to random consumers. e.g. I ended up having to fight with multiple agencies as they shared information with each other. They were each, at one time or another when I was 18-22, utterly convinced that I was an alias of a 45 year old guy racking up medical debts a few states away (who happened to have transposed his SSN to give mine on a form once). I also received harassing calls from collectors that I couldn't identify who enjoyed mocking my predicament and not complying with statutory requirements to stop calling me. It's not very fun to be really excited about a girl, and after you take her home for the first time, to receive a call that plays on your answering machine mocking you for being a deadbeat. I was unable to access credit, which greatly complicated business travel, etc. For many years to come, ordinary transactions-- even buying a car with a cashier's check-- were complicated. It was an ongoing ordeal that lasted years, despite me having some degree of know-how on how to address it (but relatively little time to do so). It is an embarrassing ordeal to have to constantly have awkward discussion with bankers when this bad data happens to pop up and rear its ugly head again. And, I didn't end up making a CFPB complaint, because as angry as I was, I had other things to do-- so, I'm not included in your counts.

dangus 4y ago
That sucks, it really does. Unfortunately, it's just an anecdote. My anecdote? I have some relatives who had an identity theft issue, and it was a pain for a couple of months but then it was just another one of those bumps on the road in life and a story to tell.
- mlyle 4y ago
  > Unfortunately, it's just an anecdote. No, it's part of the distribution of outcomes that the current system can produce. Someone getting killed down the street from me is not "just an anecdote", either, even if I know a bunch of people who walked that path just fine and there was one other one guy who "only" got mugged. Think about the complete lack of care that produces a system where if someone accidentally uses your SSN once (or perhaps it was a single keying error by someone else), that it can cause repeated associations between you and that person for years. The problem is that most of the cost of errors is externalized to consumers, especially in the worst cases. The only incentive to prevent these errors and mitigate these errors is to do the bare minimum necessary to avoid the regulatory or legislative hammer.

by mlyle 4y ago

dangus 4y ago

That sucks, it really does. Unfortunately, it's just an anecdote. My anecdote? I have some relatives who had an identity theft issue, and it was a pain for a couple of months but then it was just another one of those bumps on the road in life and a story to tell.

mlyle 4y ago
> Unfortunately, it's just an anecdote. No, it's part of the distribution of outcomes that the current system can produce. Someone getting killed down the street from me is not "just an anecdote", either, even if I know a bunch of people who walked that path just fine and there was one other one guy who "only" got mugged. Think about the complete lack of care that produces a system where if someone accidentally uses your SSN once (or perhaps it was a single keying error by someone else), that it can cause repeated associations between you and that person for years. The problem is that most of the cost of errors is externalized to consumers, especially in the worst cases. The only incentive to prevent these errors and mitigate these errors is to do the bare minimum necessary to avoid the regulatory or legislative hammer.