Uncommonly Common

While recently reviewing one of my end-of-month alternate format statements, I came across a posted transaction which I immediately recalled performing.  I did not, however, purchase the item twice in the way it was presented in my statement detail.  It appeared as though the service provider had charged me twice, assumingly accidentally, and I was relieved to have both identified and rectified the issue with the bank in a timely manner.
 
For blind and partially sighted consumers such as myself, accessible statements are fundamental in many ways.  While they may not prevent these types of incidents from occurring all together, they allow individuals the opportunity to independently check and verify monthly transactions, therefore enabling them to resolve any issues that may arise with respect to their account.
 
While my incident was rather innocent, I’m quite certain it is not isolated. I was immediately reminded of a news release recently issued by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC).  It outlined the increase of security breach reports received from organizations over the past couple of years, presumably resulting from the OPC’s 2007 report on voluntary breach guidelines.
 
Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart cites the lack of basic security measures such as the improper discarding of documents and the theft of laptops containing private data as the cause of these increased incidents, rising from 20 (2006) to 34 (2007) voluntary reports from organizations.  Not surprisingly, financial institutions top the list for breach reports, followed by telecom providers and retail organizations. While the OPC admits that likely not all businesses report incidents, you can imagine that essentially all consumers are at potential risk.
 
I consider myself lucky to have encountered such a minimal transaction error. Unfortunately, many consumers find themselves victim to incidents of data compromise on a regular basis, and I am not naive enough to think that it could not happen to me in the future.  I am extremely careful with respect to my personal information, but as this release attests, it is not always in our own hands.  As more and more organizations report security breaches, the provision of accessible statements offers an additional layer of protection not only to service providers, but also to their end blind and partially sighted users - I am certainly a prime example!