Ashley Madison Faces $578 Million Class Action Lawsuit

[bananas]

Source: Time

Two Canadian law firms filed a $578 million class-action lawsuit against the companies that run extramarital-affairs website Ashley Madison over a recent hack that exposed the personal information of about 39 million users.

Charney Lawyers and Sutts, Strosberg LLP—two Canadian law firms—filed the suit on Thursday on behalf of Canadians whose personal information was breached in a company hack. The Toronto-based Avid Dating Life and Avid Life Media, which run the company, are named in the suit.

The lawsuit’s class-action status remains to be certified by the court.

“Numerous former users of AshleyMadison.com have approached the law firms to inquire about their privacy rights under Canadian law,” the firms said in a statement. “They are outraged that AshleyMadison.com failed to protect its users’ information. In many cases, the users paid an additional fee for the website to remove all of their user data, only to discover that the information was left intact and exposed.”

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Read more: http://time.com/4007374/ashley-madison-578-million-lawsuit-canada/

[bananas]

1. AP: Ashley Madison faces $578M Canadian class-action lawsuit

http://abc7chicago.com/news/ashley-madison-faces-%24578m-class-action-lawsuit/953173/

Ashley Madison faces $578M Canadian class-action lawsuit
Sunday, August 23, 2015 10:07AM

TORONTO -- Two Canadian law firms have filed a $578 million class-action lawsuit against the companies that run Ashley Madison after a hacker group's data breach exposed some 39 million memberships in the adultery website earlier this week.

Charney Lawyers and Sutts, Strosberg LLP, both of Ontario, said Friday that they filed the lawsuit on behalf of Canadians who subscribed to Ashley Madison and whose personal information was disclosed to the public. The website, with its slogan "Life is short. Have an affair," is marketed to facilitate extramarital relationships.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, targets Avid Dating Life Inc. and Avid Life Media Inc., the Toronto-based companies that run AshleyMadison.com. Its class-action status "still needs to be certified by the court," the statement says.

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[PoliticAverse]

2. 'Security Was An Afterthought,' Hacked Ashley Madison Emails Show

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=1186246

[Sam_Fields]

3. How many married men will join this lawsuit?

I would like to be a fly on the wall when a husband tried to explain to his wife why he joined a lawsuit that outed him for cheating.

[cstanleytech]

5. Attempted cheating. From what I read something like 90 to 95% of the sites members were men

so how many of them managed to use the site to cheat is probably pretty low.

[PSPS]

13. Most sites like this are mostly men, that's why they're the only ones who have to pay.

AM doesn't charge women anything to use the service, most of whom are prostitutes. Men buy "credits" to use the site -- between $50 and $350. And, with their "affair guarantee," AM is just an online pimp.

[thebighobgoblin]

11. It would probably be academic at that point anyway

Whatever the wife is going to do at that point, she's already in the process of doing. This would probably be for those who get exposed and have to deal with the shitstorm that follows and want to take their frustrations out on someone else.

[daleo]

17. The spouse would get half the settlement (eventually), in a divorce

So, if things have gone that far, both partners would want a piece of the legal action.

[still_one]

4. Interesting. Who is to blame, the hackers, or the site for not providing adequate protections

I don't think this is that straight forward

What has been occurring when sites like Target and other stores or even the social security administration are hacked. Is it the fault of the site, the hacker, or both

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

6. The crime is the fault of the person who committed it.

But if the victim wasn't taking responsible measures to protect their clients' information in the first place, then they're liable for that. The specifics depends on what their terms and conditions of service say.

[herding cats]

7. If someone breaks into your home and steals from you because you have poor locks...

Is it your fault, or the fault of the burglar? That part is easy to understand.

The biggest questions here is were there adequate "locks" provided by this company to keep your personal information safe within a reasonable doubt? Also, was data harvested after clients paid extra to have it removed?

[still_one]

12. I think it also involves if this is considered prostitution, and is prostitution legal in the local

where they solicited this service?

[former9thward]

14. There is no "adequate protection".

The IRS has been hacked. The U.S. government personnel site has been hacked. Anything can be hacked.

[still_one]

15. That is what I was thinking

[TeddyR]

8. If you want to cheat

Then don't sue the website that facilitated your cheating. This strikes me as a lawsuit that is driven by a plaintiffs' law firm.

[daleo]

18. If the contract stipulates a high expectation of security

Then, they are in breach of contract.

[Joe Bacon]

9. Hey, will Josh Duggar join this lawsuit?

Inquiring minds want to know!

[thebighobgoblin]

10. If Target and others get sued for stuff like this...

...then you knew that a lawsuit over this drama was inevitable. The lawsuit has to deal with making a reasonable effort to maintain security of highly private data, and it seems fairly clear that AM had trouble in this regard. I think the lawsuits have a legitimate basis and AM will probably end up having to declare bankruptcy.

They can try and rebuild her, but I seriously doubt it'll ever be what it used to be. I think that this hacking will forever be seared into the consciousness of everyone who's even remotely entertaining the idea of two-timing. I just wonder what effect this will have on other sites like, say, Adult Friendfinder or that sort of thing. Basically a legit hookup site but most people wouldn't want their true identity and saucy emails leaked to the public.

[LanternWaste]

16. It's certainly becoming a tough old world...

It's certainly becoming a tough old world for those poor, put-upon little fellas who want to cheat on their spouses.

[chapdrum]

19. Can't help but notice

that the site has about 38,000,000 users/clients. These could be just hits, or in fact actual clients.
And monogamy within marriage is enforced by adultery laws.
That's a heck of a lot of folk who evidently find monogamy less than salubrious.