Who Really Pays For Weak Retail Security?
Written by Evan SchumanFebruary 22nd, 2007
As legislation moves through the Massachusetts legislature--and is threatened to be introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives--assigning responsibility for retailers if they have a data breach that is found to be their fault, former federal prosecutor Mark Rasch makes an interesting observation.
While the debate has focused attention on the banking lobby's position that they foot the bill for the losses due to retail errors, he counters that, ironically, it ends up being the retailers--as a group--who pay for retail security violations.No, we're not talking about retailers having to pay higher card interchange rates to pay for the fraud. That's true, but there's a much more real cost. To read the full story,
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One Comment | Read Who Really Pays For Weak Retail Security?
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-Ed
February 23rd, 2007 at 11:42 am
If we’re talking about who ultimately pays more it’s obviously the consumer. Regardless of any legislation the consumer is at the bottom of this feeding chain.
When banks are held liable then it’s the consumer that pays more in fees and through reduced margins on interest rates.
When retailers are held liable then it’s the consumer that absorbs higher prices as a result of litigation, penalties or (as described in this article) credit card fraud.
A valid point is made with respect to the irony of retailers that are “punished” by their peers’ security breaches but I believe it’s important to remember that it is consumers that ultimately foot the bill.