Well, if people are doing dastardly things and this exposes them, it might be good enough that culprits of negative activity are taken to justice.
Indiana Solo
...these companies havn't learned their lesson yet? wow...
I'm baaaaaaack
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
What lesson? That no one will touch them because of a horribly broken and corrupt system?
Who watches the watchmen?
Indiana Solo
No, that hackers can and will break in.
I'm baaaaaaack
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Not really much of a lesson. Like the rest of the leaks the bulk is useless crap. You have to sift through the data to find the useful info. Which is usually the job of a intelligence analyst.
This hardly does anything meaningful against these companies unless someone in government chooses to act on the issues that are found. Hence my statement about a horribly broken and corrupt system.
Who watches the watchmen?
Also some people still store emails and passwords in plaintext on their servers. Like say Steam storing everybody's credit cards in plaintext. Smart choice that one.
Besides guys like Wells Fargo has more to worry about loss of business due to having a leak than any criminal charges that come out of it. I suppose to a person who likes democracy, transparency and the government to be in control of the services that tax dollars pay for (and for citizens to be in control of the government), that's not much of a consolation prize.
NOT THE BEES
Bad PR only really means something when there are alternatives. Half the problem with cartel behavior between large business is that you can be just about as corrupt as you want as long as everyone else is too.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
erm, I think you're thinking sony, not steam.
Prince of Dorne
I despise mercenaries. That goes for both armed thugs and intelligence like Stratfor. Too bad that yes, indeed, nothing will come out of it.
Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken. Unrelated ME1 Fanfic
Gunpla is amazing!
The Democrats fight dirty too!? Say it aint so! 
Some of htose mails just felt like gossip though.
edited 28th Feb '12 11:16:18 AM by Thorn14
They are information and intelligence brokers. This sort of thing has a long history of being a profitable endeavour. This also makes them juicy targets for leakers, hackers, and the like.
Laundring money for shady entities is nothing new with the U.S. Banks.
edited 27th Feb '12 3:45:44 PM by TuefelHundenIV
Who watches the watchmen?