BreachExchange mailing list archives
Panama Papers are another blow to privacy
From: audrey () riskbasedsecurity com (Audrey McNeil)
Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2016 18:28:02 -0600
http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/editorial/2016/04/06/panama-papers-privacy/82680008/ The 11.5 million documents that make up the purloined Panama Papers will tell many tales and claim many heads. They also have special significance as a sequel to WikiLeaks and the Edward Snowden data dump. Itâs the continuing saga of The End of Privacy. No one knows how it will end. Average people who willingly share the intimate details of daily life on Facebook may not see the connection, but there is one. Think what you share is private? It's not Sure, this goes way beyond what we are gleefully disclose about ourselves to âfriendsâ we may never have met. But like Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and all the other narcissistic sharing tools, the theft of these documents is an example of where modern technology is taking us. Itâs easy to connect these days. Itâs also easy to collect â and to disclose things that were never meant for public consumption. When it happens to somebody else â the high and mighty â or reveals official shenanigans â like NSA snooping -- the disclosure is hailed and welcomed. But when even the elite rich canât fully guard their financial secrets, what chance do John and Jane Q. Mainstreet have? None. Identity theft vs. the need to know When breaches of personal information happen to individuals, itâs called identity theft and itâs done with criminal intent. But is identity theft really so much different from the grand theft of a treasure trove of financial secrets of the rich and powerful? Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm whose data was breached and shared, said it is âlegal and common for companies to establish commercial entities in different jurisdictions for a variety of legitimate reasons.â Reportedly the fourth largest offshore law firm in the world, Mossack Fonseca says it had âalways complied with international protocols.â Those who took and shared the information gained âunauthorized access to proprietary documents and information taken from our company.â They stole it. Is that OK simply because the individuals whose secrets were disclosed may have had nefarious reasons for hiding their assets? Are 14,153 offshore clients corrupt? Arguably, the world is better off when crooked politicians and their cronies get caught. News stories based on the stolen documents talk of nearly 215,000 offshore shell companies and 14,153 clients of Mossack Fonseca. Are they all crooks? The network includes 143 politicians, their families and close associates who allegedly use tax havens to hide huge sums of money. Are they all corrupt? Those named include Argentinaâs President Mauricio Macri, Ukraineâs President Petro O. Poroshenko, Pakistanâs Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Saudi Arabiaâs King Salman and others, including associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. The disclosures quickly claimed the political career of the prime minister of Iceland, who resigned amid outrage over his use of an offshore company allegedly to avoid declaring a conflict of interest. Icelandâs PM David Gunnlaugsson claimed he did not conceal assets or try to avoid paying taxes â even as Icelanders called for his resignation. He was a casualty. There will be others. But the very expectation of privacy is also a casualty as technology facilitates the transfer of large amounts of information that can no longer be kept private. The willingness of people to use that technology â for criminal gain or increased public awareness â is not in doubt. What remains to be seen is how â or whether â a high-tech world can include the expectation of privacy. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.riskbasedsecurity.com/pipermail/breachexchange/attachments/20160407/838a5c7e/attachment-0001.html>
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- Panama Papers are another blow to privacy Audrey McNeil (Apr 07)