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[Dataloss] (Commentary) Has "data loss" jumped the shark?

From: lyger (lygerattrition.org)
Date: Sun Feb 11 2007 - 14:54:56 CST

For those of you not familiar with the term in the subject, it harkens
back to an old episode of "Happy Days" where Fonzie revs up his motorcycle
and literally "jumps a shark". Some would argue that from that point on,
"Happy Days" was never the same again; it reached its peak and from there,
it went all downhill.

http://www.jumptheshark.com/

Looking at Attrition's Data Loss web page and Data Loss Database (DLDOS),
I can't help but think of all of the time and research spent on
chronicling these events. 26 million here, 72 there, a couple thousand
here and there. This month (February 2007) alone, the web page and
database have already been updated 17 times... and it's only the 11th of
the month. Other than for hardcore privacy advocates and those who make
their living in the security, identity theft prevention, or risk
management arenas, is it even news anymore? Is data loss really still
worthy of front-page news headlines, or has it become so commonplace that
it should be expected as much as we expect the sun to rise in the morning?

Regarding data loss issues, TJX has probably been the biggest story of the
year thus far. Even so, the company itself flat out refuses to give any
totals of the number of people impacted. Why should they? It would just
mean "YANS" (yet another news story) for them to provide information,
field phone calls, and do even more damage control for an already
complicated situation. If they keep quiet and don't disclose, their
"story" will eventually "jump the shark", become old news, and fade away.

At what point will most people see "YANS" in their newspaper or on the
internet and just turn the page or click another link? At what point does
this become an issue where most people will simply say "so what?".
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