UK’s Chubb first to offer “troll insurance” policy
14 Dec 2015
UK insurer Chubb has introduced a new policy to provide protection to online users against internet "trolls", cyberbullies and other undesirables lurking around to harass and intimidate users.
Chubb's insurance would include cyberbullying coverage under its personal insurance package - providing up to £50,000, or roughly $75,000, that could be used for things like help from online experts for victims and counselling, or even covering lost income if the victim was off work for over a week due to the harassment - The Telegraph reported.
Chubb's new "troll insurance" follows a survey conducted among its target audience and brokers. In an interaction with newspaper, the company's UK and Ireland private clients manager Tara Parchment said, "We see insurance as helping our clients get back to how they were before the incident occurred-whether it's an incident that affects their home or as a person".
Chubb defines cyberbullying as "three or more acts by the same person or group to harass, threaten or intimidate [paywalled] a customer."
"Insurers have been monitoring the growth of cyber risk for some time, and recent high profile events mean the general public is becoming much more aware of how they could be affected by hacking, data theft or cyber bullying", Matt Cullen, head of strategy with Association of British Insurers, told The Telegraph.
Online trolling can be highly disruptive with one of its most extreme forms like swatting - where a harasser faked an emergency to get police to raid a victim's home - were real world safety threats.
The internet could at times be harsh on some people - 73 per cent of American adults online had seen someone harassed online and 40 per cent had personally experienced it, revealed a study released by Pew Research Centre last year.
