Got my home insurance renewal today and it was interesting to note that DirectLine now also cover Downloaded Information as part of their Home Content policy. This covers the cost of replacing information bought and stored on home entertainment equipment or mobile phones that is lost when the item it is stored on is stolen or damaged in one of the manners the insurance describes.
I’m sure this will be subject to refinement as I can see some fringe cases where your mobile phone can get stolen and while the insurance doesn’t explicitly cover the phone (unless you add their additional insurance) you can still claim for the data downloaded onto the phone. It would also be interesting to see what sort of proof they would expect you to provide in the event of a claim. If the item gets stolen or fried it would be pretty difficult to come up with a conclusive list of what was on the item and exactly that moment in time.
Still, it’s nice to see an insurance company making inroads into the digital world. It sets the standard for other companies and can only means more protection for consumers (or maybe just higher premiums). I would be interested to see how this compares with other countries. Does your home insurance cover data?