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Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

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Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#141

Post by hello_newman »

stcredzero wrote: post #49
hedora wrote: post #17

I'd love to see the $70B number pan out (though $500 per person is less than the damages, I think) -- Equifax is a $17B company, and would presumably stop existing if that happened. On the other hand, these things always settle out of court, and Equifax certainly won't settle the suit for more than they're worth. I said it elsewhere, but I think the right response is to opt out of the class, and sue for $1000 in smal…

I said it elsewhere, but I think the right response is to opt out of the class, and sue for $1000 in small claims court. There's usually no enforcement of penalties in small claims court.

I don't know how many times you have been to Small Claims Courts but there are multiple ways to enforce penalties in Small Claims; a judgment from a judge, a till-tap, levy their wages, place a levy on their bank account, placing a sheriff in their area of business (for a fee) and will stay there until he's collected all the funds, submit to a collections agency etc.

Don't speak on something if you don't know what you're talking about.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#142

Post by pc86 »

joering2 wrote: post #88
jfindley wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IANAL, but I think you'd find it virtually impossible to show $1000 of direct, material damages as a result of having your information leaked[0] and to the best of my knowledge this is the only sort of claim that small claims courts allow - I believe they do not allow punitive damages, nor theoretical ones. 0: Unless your info is actually used in a way that harms you, and you can prove that it was a result of this, b…

Many time the thiefs are actually caugh. If he she admits to stealing your data in this leak AND you are damaged, then here is your proof.

I think it's unlikely you'll actually be damaged. Any real financial impact would have been reversed by your bank. Maybe a fee or two that two parties argue about who should reimburse your for it, however I can't see stuff like that adding up to $1,000 (or even $100).

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#144

Post by noxToken »

hellogoodbyeeee wrote: post #22
redm wrote: post #5

I'm not excited about this class action; If they win, the individual payout will be almost nothing ($10?). The lawyers are the only ones who will really "make out" with 10's of millions in fees. There is also a disproportionate effect in that a small portion of the 143 million affected will have a large impact, i.e., "identity theft" while most will be unaffected. I think a fund setup to help those who are directly a…

I don't really care where the money goes. I think that having one catastrophic event (huge lawsuits or fines leading to bankruptcy) for a corporate entity because of negligent security measures may lead other board rooms to move security measures up their priority list.

It may cause security to get tightened to prevent these types of incidents, but I doubt that it will improve security culture. Going forward, we would theoretically be protected from a breach of this type in other companies, but proper security is a continually moving target. New methods exploits are discovered all the time. That's what I'm worried about - are they going to be proactive in securely protecting information against future threats, or will they just check a few boxes to continue with business as usual?

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#145

Post by raisedbyninjas »

rayiner wrote: post #96
billh wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This class action will likely be settled in the same way the Ticketmaster case was settled ... with a coupon book good for 2 free credit reports.

Probably for good reason. $500 per class member is an insanely high damages estimate. 99.9% of people will suffer zero damages because their identities will not be stolen. Even the ones who do have their identities stolen will likely be made whole by the credit card companies. The real damages here are going to be to the banks and credit card companies that will have to absorb the costs of all the fraud. As to the Ti…

"Even the ones who do have their identities stolen will likely be made whole by the credit card companies."

Fraudulent charges on a credit card are the least of my concerns. This opens us up to a lifetime of identity theft and insecure accounts of every sort. I'm not even sure how they can approach remedying the problem. Coordinate with the SSA to get 150 million people new SSNs at the least.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#146

Post by esMazer »

kelvintran wrote: post #95
mlrtime wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could we create a service that automates most of the work required to sue in SCC?

Am an attorney. You could create a system that'd help you file SCC complaints quickly, but to have it detailed enough to pass the defendant lawyer's complaints about the deficiencies in your documents would be difficult. The size of that problem, however, decreases with the narrowness of the subject matter you want to cover/make claims about. If it were a 'Sue Equifax For The 2017 Data Breach' service, then it might…

yes in this case with the amount of people affected the idea would be to do a one-off website 'Sue Equifax For The 2017 Data Breach' each person would pay a fee $ and get a package they could use in their state to file the SCC complaint. Would this be possible? I think there's plenty of people willing to pay $100 in order to sue for $1,000 if it is even possible

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#148

Post by thieving_magpie »

creeble wrote: post #79
thieving_magpie wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, since I'm affected, I got a different message. It's even worse. They gave me a date in September that I have to remember to come back and sign up for. It's the equivalent of grabbing a ticket in the deli line. Look at this text: "Please be sure to mark your calendar as you will not receive additional reminders. On or after your enrollment date, please return to faq.trustedidpremier.com and click the link to…

I got the same message, but nowhere did I read "you have been affected". Is this just implied? I cancelled my Equifax credit watch account about 5 months ago, when they decided to raise rates. Never have I hoped so much for a business to be sued out of existence. And hopefully their inside traders will get jail time (yeah, right).

It wasn't implied for me. I put in my SSID (6 digits) and last name. It then told me:

" Based on the information provided, we believe that your personal information may have been impacted by this incident."

It then had some button, I forgot what the button said. This led to the screen about "save the date" for protection.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#149

Post by floatrock »

hello_newman wrote: post #141
stcredzero wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I said it elsewhere, but I think the right response is to opt out of the class, and sue for $1000 in small claims court. There's usually no enforcement of penalties in small claims court.

I don't know how many times you have been to Small Claims Courts but there are multiple ways to enforce penalties in Small Claims; a judgment from a judge, a till-tap, levy their wages, place a levy on their bank account, placing a sheriff in their area of business (for a fee) and will stay there until he's collected all the funds, submit to a collections agency etc. Don't speak on something if you don't know what yo…

From 2011: http://business.time.com/2011/06/06/homeowner-forecloses-on-...

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#150

Post by ineptech »

Is it time for a Federal Department of Verifying Whether People Are Who They Say They Are?

Veryifying identity with SSN is broken. The right way is probably more or less how big webapps do it - MFA + a password that the user can reset by providing a bunch of info. The government has the necessary private info to do this in most cases (e.g. DL# plus your income from last year's taxes), and can fall back to "Show up at a police station/DMV/other office and talk to a human" in disputed cases.

I'm sure there are lots of private corporations that would love to be the One True Arbiter of who's who, but none of us would trust them, or want to pay the price. An open source solution (something like Keybase?) seems possible, but not without government backing.

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