Here is my forth entry.
Name of the author: Rick Warner
Title of the article: “The Personal Data Privacy & Security Act: Are you Ready?”
Magazine name: Hospitality Upgrade
Issue: 10/26/2006
URL of the article: http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/_magazine/magazine_Detail.asp?ID=50
Summary:
This article focuses on the data privacy and security issue in the hospitality industry. By the rapid development of the internet, the numbers of high-visibility customer data thefts and losses have occurred. For this reason, Congress plans to enact a protective legislation called “Personal Data Privacy and Security Act”, which is intended to assist consumers to better protect the privacy of their personal information in the face of recurrent data security breaches across the country. There are seven key areas of the legislation. One of the key features which the author mentioned is to ensure that any business engaging in interstate commerce that involves collecting, accessing, transmitting, using, storing or disposing of “personally identifiable” information in electronic or digital form on 10,000 or more U.S. persons to apply strict data privacy and security safeguards. The civil penalties are up to $5,000 per violation per day. Then the author further suggested two steps to prevent an incident occurred or be attacked. The first step is to conduct a compliance assessment, which is a gap analysis for the organization. After that, the companies can develop a custom program to address all seven of the key areas of focus set forth in the legislation.
My Reflection:
I totally agree with the author. I think that it is the time to think about the data privacy and security issue to keep pace with the rapid development of technology. Hackers are everywhere. They are tricky and always seeking new ways to steal the customer data. You might be attacked several times without realized it. Therefore, the protective legislation is definitely a must. Once this legislation pass into law, it will impact the way that customer data will be handled going forward, especially for hotel chains and large independent operators, which store a lot of personally identifiable information such as credit card numbers. Therefore, they need to document and maintain all data security procedures in order to better protect the guest information. However, to effective restrain the hackers, only the legislation is not enough. Besides this, there are two other important exposures which the author stated. First, individual consumers can initiate civil lawsuits which can involve large penalties if lost or stolen customer data ultimately results in the theft of their identity. Second, the companies can look for the help by the national media which can release the news of any customer data loss. With all these method, the companies can at least minimize the risk of being attack to protect the data security.
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2 comments:
This is an extremely important issue. Security issues, such as hacking and theft, have been in increasing problem throughout the years. With the widespread use of various technologies, it has become even easier for certain individuals to access information that they should not be capable of getting their hands on. Companies, especially hotels, really must try to minimize the chance of this, and guarantee customer safety. The new laws coming out can be extremely problematic to hotels if they do not comply. I do believe however, that by following these laws, hotels will become a much safe environment for customers, which can help their sales in the future.
This is an interesting issue to bring up. Technology has changed the industry to such an amazing extent, but certain consequences come along with such innovations. There have been so many new introductions into hotels and restuarants that have made service more efficient and personable for guests, but at the same time it has also put guests safety at risk. Hackers can access extremely confidential information very easily through the internet, and hotels need to do everything to prevent such disasters and to guarentee customers complete safety and confidentiality. These newly enacted laws, however, can be of great use to hotels. If customers know they can trust hotels with such important information, they will feel more comfortable and be more at ease during their stay or their meal.
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