What UPS is able to do for fish, it doesn’t seem to be able to do for consumer data.
On Friday, June 3, the Atlanta-based shipper announced that it had delivered Ralph and Norton, a pair of whale sharks, from Taipei, Taiwan to Atlanta via Anchorage.
(Please do not write in observing that whales are mammals, not fish. Whale sharks are named for their size, which can reach up to 50 fishy feet. Likewise, don’t say that fish can’t have feet. Loose Cannon is firmly Darwinist.)
Kudos to UPS, and the B-747 it used to transport 54,000 pounds of shark, tank equipment and water safely to their new dwelling in the Georgia Aquarium. Kudos to everyone who resisted the impulse to call the flight a “honeymooners trip.”
But for all its ability in fish shipping, UPS didn’t have as much success transporting consumer data. A few days after moving Ralph and Norton, UPS managed to lose mag tapes containing information on 3.9 million CitiFinancial customers.
The loss follows instances of commercial shippers mislaying data from Bank of America, Ameritrade and Time Warner. To give them their due, third-party shippers successfully transport millions of packages every day. But these high-profile data losses are staining the reputations of all information-reliant industries. The losses may be few in number, but each represents hundreds of thousands of names – and immeasurable bad publicity.
There comes a tipping point where data-reliant organizations have to realize that business as usual isn’t working any more. That tipping point is now.
In one respect, the loss of data is mystifying. Tapes can’t be more troublesome than livestock. Considering all the trouble UPS took to move Ralph and Norton halfway around the globe, data tapes, which don’t require regular feedings, should have been a snap. And considering the value of the data tapes, they deserved at least as much care and attention as the whale sharks.
Kevin Kessinger, a high muckymuck at Citigroup, has announced a change in his company’s information transport activities. “Beginning in July, this data will be sent electronically in encrypted form,” Kessinger said in a statement.
That’s a step forward, I guess. But for the 3.9 million customers whose information has gone missing, the sea horse is out of the barn.
To respond to the opinions in this column, please contact e-mail: rlevey@primediabusiness.com
