Brace yourselves Social Media Meddlers, because for the first time ever you will be able to buy insurance against online reputational damage, account jacking and all other forms of online ID Theft. Did you brace??
“Social Media Insurance” is the brainchild of UK-based insurance company ALLOW.
“The cover,” they explain “which has been put in place for the benefit of all of our subscribers from today, will pay for legal advice and expert support in the event of a claim and is included in our service at no additional cost”
For around £3.99 a month, ALLOW will offer up to £10,000 in fees and costs for any one incident or £3,500 towards any reputational damage incurred. And like most savvy insurers out there, the first 30 days are free.
ALLOW clients can see where their information is stored online and whether or not anyone is tracking them. They work to prevent companies from using your personal data and on the off chance that your account or email gets hacked, the cover will also foot the cost of disabling your account and taking action against the hackers.
In 2011 a Sophos report found that 600,000 Facebook accounts were hacked daily and more than 55,000 Twitter passwords were leaked. Now there is no mention of whether or not the users had genius passwords such as “password1234” or “facebookpassword” but nevertheless that is a lot of lawbreaking. While these figures will drive many to get insurance, aren’t ALLOW worried at just how much money they’ll end up splashing out just to keep up with the demands? And what about fraudulent hacking? What if my 95-year-old blind granny logged onto my account and said I enjoy BBC2 when in actual fact I hate it? Will I be able to sue her for reputation damage? I’ll get back to you on that…
