Aug
20
2007
Virtual Insurance?
Author: Valeria WeberWhat are your most valuable possessions? With new gadgets like the iPhone, as well as other portable goodies like laptops, cameras and personal digital assistants, many people are finding that the value isn’t just the device itself but is instead the information it carries. It’s worth checking to see if your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policy will cover replacing your technology tools, or even the information they contain.
For example, if your iPod contains 500 songs downloaded from Apple’s iTunes at about one dollar each, that claim is possibly $500 for lost data, not including the time to re-establish data. And for business purposes and customers, the water gets even muddier.
Personal digital assistants, or PDAs, like the Blackberry, will store a huge amount of information. While the devices can be backed up, sometimes people don’t do it as often as necessary. How much is the loss of a business contact worth? How much is it worth to replace that information? Often that figure isn’t easily quantifiable.
“Early adapters” or even regular users should check their homeowner’s, renter’s or business policies in the event of theft or loss. In the Information Age, replacing lost information can be costly.
August 21st, 2007 at 9:50 pm
This is an insurance issue that most people wouldn’t even think about — until a loss or theft leads them to the realization that replacing gigabytes can be very expensive! The iPod example is a great one. Sure, replacing the iPod itself is one thing… but what about all of the music that was on it? Hopefully it would be backed up on the user’s computer, but what if it isn’t? Great and timely information for your digital readers, here.