We can no longer leave online security to the market
Government regulation? They can't keep themselves secure. There was just a post here a couple of days ago saying how vulnerable the DOD's systems are. How are they going to police others when they can't police themselves?<p>I work in the banking industry where security IS regulated (by the FDIC). We have government auditors come and review our technology once a year. These guys don't know what the hell they are doing. We have had blatant security problems (now addressed) that they couldn't see right in front of their nose. Community banks have terrible security. Larger ones are better, but still rife with problems.<p>I fail to see how government regulation and intervention has helped in my industry, or how it would help in any. If by regulations, you mean that we would get fined if some data got compromised, that already happens through negligence lawsuits. It is not an effective motivator though.<p>In my experience, the threat/worry of bad publicity is actually the best motivator in a company getting their security up to par.