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Comment by kingnothing | Hacker News Reader

If 150M people have suffered $125 in damages each, then Equifax needs to either pay out the $18B or declare insolvency.

I say they extract it from the corporate officers by declaring any bonus payments they've returned over the last several years to be invalid and requiring them to be returned.

Then if there's any leftover money owed, forbid the company from paying out bonuses in the future until the debt is cleared.

after which their assets can be liquidated to pay off their debts to the people

As should the executives' assets.

I agree. This is the best solution. This is what Equifax deserves.

Though honestly, it's not enough.

How much damage can someone do with my name and social security number? I bet you it's more than 125 dollars can fix.

This data could end up circulating the web or dark web for years and years.

But that's not the settlement. The settlement is a fixed amount divided by claimants.

150M people have not suffered $125 damages each

How much is your time worth?

That’s an utterly irrelevant question unless you have evidence of the equifax data being abused.

> That’s an utterly irrelevant question unless you have evidence of the equifax data being abused.

No, because time spent putting safeguards in place to prevent its usage should it be abused is worth something.

You don't lock your doors after someone has broken into your house; you take measures to keep them out. In the same vein, you don't protect your credit after someone has abused it; you take measures to keep it from having serious consequences.

And taking measures costs time, and time is money.

There are simply no useful measures you could take in response to the Equifax breach.

If you choose to waste your time that is on you, not Equifax.

Ah, the old "this is hard, let's give up" strategy. No thanks, that's not for me.

What useful safeguards do you imagine people had to spend time putting up because of the equifax breach?

If you can’t name any, how can there be costs?

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