Why tort liability for data breaches won’t improve cybersecurity

Stewart Baker writes:

… So, how much incentive for better security comes from the threat of data breach liability?  Some, but not much.  As I’ve been saying for a while, the actual damages from data breaches are pretty modest in dollar terms, and the pattern of losses makes it very hard to sustain a single class, something that forces up the cost of litigation for the plaintiffs.

You can see this pattern in recent data breach settlements.

Read more on WaPo The Volokh Conspiracy.

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