Two Maryland hospitals lose personal data - 265,000 impacted

Johns Hopkins announced the loss of 135,000 records last week and today another Maryland hospital has announced the loss of 130,000 records that includes personal information dating back to at least the late 1980's. The most recent data loss was connected to a missing laptop and the Hopkins loss was connected to missing backup tapes.

What jumps out in this story is that the hospital was under no legal obligation to announce the loss. Something has to give and consumers deserve privacy protections. Instead of dumping this onto the consumers after the fact, the ownership of this constant problem should rest with those holding the data. Consumers have no ability to oversee how organizations handle this data and should not be constantly held at the mercy of incompetent organizations who show no interest or capabilities in protecting personal data.