October 16, 2006 4:58PM 

# Getting Data Breach in Perspective 

By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) 

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Indiana University law professor and cybersecurity/​informatics expert Fred Cate wrote sensibly in this weekend’s *Washington Post* about data security and identity fraud. “[The fact is that few if any \[data\] breaches lead to identity theft or other consumer injuries](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/13/AR2006101301459_pf.html).”

When a Department of Veterans Affairs laptop with data on 26.5 million veterans was stolen earlier this year, VA notified all of them and asked Congress for $160.5 million to cover the cost of one year of credit monitoring. Even if the laptop had not been returned (the data untouched), this reaction would have been overkill.

Washington has a hard time responding to problems dispassionately and proportionately. If only this failing could be the *crisis du jour* — even just for a day.

##### Related Tags 

[Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy) 

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