These days, the companies involved are probably protected from such, but I'm put in mind of some of the successful slander lawsuits against credit reporting agencies for their errors.
In the absence of a better, more rational process, it would be nice to know that an injured party can walk away with some hundreds of thousands of dollars from such contemptuous companies (and I wouldn't mind seeing the State dinged, as well, although that's probably even more difficult). (I fully support punitive judgment in addition to compensation, in the face of such activity as it is described.)
The State is actually probably more at fault, but I can't help imagining a certain amount of collusion with firms seeking to sell them this business.
"Guilty until proven innocent" really seems to be taking hold in the U.S. Shoving the work off onto private contractors further aids in this regard, I can imagine. I'm also put in mind of states' use of private, commercial databases to make an end run around their own statutory limitations on data collection and use.
In the absence of a better, more rational process, it would be nice to know that an injured party can walk away with some hundreds of thousands of dollars from such contemptuous companies (and I wouldn't mind seeing the State dinged, as well, although that's probably even more difficult). (I fully support punitive judgment in addition to compensation, in the face of such activity as it is described.)
The State is actually probably more at fault, but I can't help imagining a certain amount of collusion with firms seeking to sell them this business.
"Guilty until proven innocent" really seems to be taking hold in the U.S. Shoving the work off onto private contractors further aids in this regard, I can imagine. I'm also put in mind of states' use of private, commercial databases to make an end run around their own statutory limitations on data collection and use.