Essential to the solution of privacy in a technological environment is empowering the individual with the ability to control the right of circulation of information about them. The potential for willful or negligent misuse of information is always there. There are situations that no system can control or whose effects can be predicted. Public confidence in electronic commerce could be quick to erode when systems crash. Confidential information could be accessed during down times by unauthorized system users.
Power failures happen.
Meteorological phenomena from storms to solar flares can wreak havoc with computers. The integrity of information for billions of dollars worth of electronic transactions could be called into question. There are many safeguards in the transfer of information over the Internet. Large organizations use twin systems for security and system backup. There is perhaps no safeguard for some events that are completely outside of the control of human beings.