ChoicePoint To Pay Up For Data Leaks And Keep On Going

ChoicePoint, the company that leaked the personal info of a huge number of people to identity thieves last year, will pay a $10 million fine to the FTC and put another $5 million in a fund to help victims of its security breach. The company, of course, has admitted no wrongdoing, but says it's changed it policies in light of the leak. But given how the number of people the company said were affected kept growing and growing -- even months later -- and the fact that they'd sold information to scammers before, can they really be trusted? The government thinks so, apparently, having given ChoicePoint a huge IRS contract just a few months after the leak. So the company can just move right along, while victims could feel the effects for years to come, particularly since they have little recourse. Of course, fines like this one don't really seem to be doing much, anyway -- just yesterday a financial-planning firm said an employee's laptop that was stolen contained personal information on 226,000 customers and financial advisers. Like ChoicePoint, it will probably just chalk up any fine as a cost of doing business.