I am so looking forward to getting my 2.99 USD check from this suit. Of course I need to apply for that check via an on-line site and give them all my personal information.
Great time to be alive.
How much should National Public Data have to pay the people affected by this breach? The article says there are 2.9 billion people impacted. Let's take that at face value and assume that there are no duplicates in there. How much should each person receive? The article also says that USDoD tried to sell the data for only $3.5 million, so they value it at roughly $830/person.
Now, in class actions, not everyone takes the deal. Most people ignore it or never pay attention to the notice. Let's say, very generously, 10% of those affected take the deal. That would be 290 million people. If you gave each of them $100, that would be $29 billion dollars. Do you think National Public Data even has that kind of money? What if we gave everyone just your $3? That's $870 million. I don't think this data broker probably even has that much money.
Your only real hope of getting a sizable payout from this class is either a) NPD is sitting on a mountain of cash or b) a very small percentage of users get paid. Anything else and the money isn't there.
When people say that there need to be criminal, go-to-jail type repercussions for not securing data, this is why. People value their freedom much more than businesses value staying solvent.
Planet Money just did a great episode on how class action lawsuits actually work, from both sides[1].
When I divide 3,500,000 USD by 2,900,000,000 people, I get $0.0012/person. How do you get $830/person?
Instead, I’d like to force this company (and others similarly) to put all kinds of precautions in place. Also warn them that the next breach would result in severe penalties, assuming they could’ve prevented the breach in the first place.
Where do these scumbags even begin to get this information on every human's most intimate data, and what allows them to operate as a trusted source of protecting this information?
I also want to know who does their audits, and who regulates them?
It is unbelievable organizations can appoint themselves resellers of OUR information without any of us even knowing who they are or how many there are.
This is an industry the FTC should be involved in regulating heavily. Lina Khan always needs a new degenerate company to kick around, let's start with these guys.
Yeah, I suppose just shutting them down is a better idea. In that case, we also need to make sure they don’t pop up with a different name and do the same thing all over again
If they don't have insurance for this precise problem then I think we should go after the owners personally. I'm sick of the shell game. Pierce the veil.
This suit opens the company to discovery in which several jurisdictions get access to their books and methods, opening them up to litigation and prosecution in places like the EU.
The $2.99 check is not the only benefit I get from a class-action lawsuit.
I should not have to do anything nor give any information. Why 7 years, that is equal to the Statue of Limitations for saving US Tax Documents.
That alone will end these breaches almost over night.
However, it's still a reasonable time frame, and also, probably coincidentally, 7 years after the last update on any individual record is how long it will take to essentially reboot your U.S. credit report, so seven years sounds quite reasonable.
And SSNs are for life aren't they?
So, it's not like the information is going to expire.
Motherfuckers asked my wife her SSN when she was getting a store card the other week. Not a credit card, a store card.
The store cards I have seen are simply store-branded credit cards.
(the above description is very bland - add in anti-capitalist/m messaging wherever you deem appropriate, I won't argue)
It's not a credit card, debit card, or any other kind of payment card. It's not even, like, a COSTCO membership card.
It's a tracking card that is used by the store to track your purchases in exchange for a small discount on some items if you swipe it at checkout.
After the first year, you'll be asked to pay for monitoring.
If I don’t like the service, then I can cancel the card. And I can limit them to how much money can be taken out per transaction, or per month, or per year, or total. Or the card could be a one-time only card. And it will be merchant locked, so if anyone else tries to charge that card, they get refused.
I left empty handed, even though I think SSN shouldn't be used as a password.
He said "for anything in the store."
Then I would ask them if they want to reconsider this possibility.
Now, if you actually want to use this tactic, I would suggest you look up the federal law in question, so that you can quote it by section and paragraph. Maybe keep a printed copy with you.