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Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

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Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#421

Post by agrue »

KGIII wrote: post #239
jlarocco wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are credit card companies now in the habit of reimbursing consumers for the considerable time and headache required to sort out fraudulent charges caused by insecure data storage practices in the credit reporting agencies that the credit card companies contract with? It's not a "habit", it's the law. It doesn't matter how the fraudulent charges came to be. If a person disputes a charge and has evidence to show it's…

Time. I'm pretty old, retired, and have a few bucks. Time is my most precious commodity, and I prefer to give it to those who deserve it. I'm not sure how much I'd want someone to pay me for an hour of my time. Clearing up identity theft can take many hours. Those are hours I can spend bugging the missus, or even bugging you folks. I am clearly not to blame for their data exfiltration. Who is going to pay me for my t…

This has been hitting me hard lately. I'm pretty young at the tail end of my 20s, job is finally stable enough not to worry about money, and have really started to realize how few free hours I can find in a week. Work and its on call rotation, obligations to the girlfriend and social circles, maintenance on the house and cars, bills that don't have an auto pay option.

Last month my auto registration sticker didn't show up in the mail after renewing it. A trip to the county clerk, then the sheriff's office to file a report, then back to the clerk to get another sticker took almost two hours. Stopping by the local bank to change my address after the online system locked my account for two incorrect password attempts took 90 minutes. 6 phone calls after a cancelled auto insurance policy made an auto draft the next month. My coworker has a pile of kids, two with medical issues, it seems like his wife has a part time job dealing with medical billing issues.

Most of these rambling examples aren't the fault of the organizing institution (unlike the Equifax leak at hand), but in the end individuals are bound by those institutions' organizational practices in their pursuit of normalcy. I don't know how it could be implemented or enforced, but at a certain point it feels like individuals should be compensated for suffering organizational incompetence or negligence.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#422

Post by orf »

devy wrote: post #302
bsenftner wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly a lack of mental investment. The NSA and these credit agencies are not a comparison, as their jobs are quite different. If nothing else, the NSA has to be connected to public networks to do their covert operations. Not so with a "credit rating agency". They should not be on a public network at all. Before the Internet, they were not, they were on private leased lines.

You missed the point. I am arguing that no amount of investment is big enough to make data breaches go away. Even the top intel agency with top budget and top resources can't avoid breaches, what else would you expect a corporation? However this is not an excuse for Equifax to not put more focus and investment on their security.

> I am arguing that no amount of investment is big enough to make data breaches go away.

Sure, nothing is totally secure against a dedicated, motivated attacker with unlimited resources. Thankfully those are few and far between.

Based on that Equifax has said that this doesn't seem to be the case.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#423

Post by Bud »

wlesieutre wrote: post #363
bradleyjg wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They may be imperfect, but they're a hell of a lot better than the alternative and have had a profound positive impact on our society. No, it isn't better than the alternative. The alternative is to have regulators selected and overseen by elected officials regulate the behavior of companies. We instead of a system of regulation by self appointed ad hoc lawyer-regulators negotiating settlements they think will get…

Regulators selected and overseen by elected officials aren't a foolproof solution either. Sometimes you end up with Scott Pruitt [1] running the EPA, whose objectives are apparently a) denying that climate change exists, and b) dismantling any environmental protections that businesses find inconvenient. The self-appointed lawyer regulators at least have an incentive to do their jobs: they get a bunch of money. [1] ht…

He didn't say foolproof; he said better.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#424

Post by oh_sigh »

kimsk112 wrote: post #418
SonicSoul wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hmm i called the 3 mentioned here today and all were free. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faq... Equifax — 1-800-349-9960 Experian — 1‑888‑397‑3742 TransUnion — 1-888-909-8872

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faq... said: "You'll need to supply your name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and other personal information. Fees vary based on where you live, but commonly range from $5 to $10." So depending on where you live, you probably have to pay.

I thought all 3 were free to freeze but $10 to unfreeze

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#425

Post by reboog711 »

cletus wrote: post #340

Ok, so credit reporting agency collects sensitive personal and financial data on basically every adult American, loses it to a bunch of criminals and now I have to deal with the consequences? I looked into credit freezes yesterday. This is really a total scam. You have to _call_ each of the three agencies and pay a fee ($5 to $10) each time. If you need to unfreeze your report to make a legitimate credit application…

I was able to freeze my credit through on-line forms using instructions here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/identity_theft

Fees vary by state. I think I paid ~$20 total and not all of them charged me.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#426

Post by joe_the_user »

dragonwriter wrote: post #415
wildmusings wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The government can't just dissolve a corporation on a whim. We have due process and the rule of law.

> The government can't just dissolve a corporation on a whim. Not on a whim, but for (e.g., in Delaware) “abuse, misuse or nonuse of its corporate powers, privileges or franchises.” (Delaware Code Title 8, § 284.) > We have due process and the rule of law. While rarely used in practice currently (it was more used in the past, and there is a movement to revive the practice), the law provides for charter revocation for…

The point is that charter revocation requires both the executive and judicial branch to agree. Moreover, I think I can guarantee that any vague sounding statement like "abuse, misuse or nonuse of its corporate powers, privileges or franchises." has been translated into a series of relatively specific conditions by the courts. You can't just sue someone for being vaguely terrible.

Basically, however appalling the unaccountable power of credit bureaus is, it was legal yesterday and it's not the job of either the executive branch or the judicial to decide today that such power isn't legal today. The judicial system especially is oriented towards prevent that kind of thing. Rather, deciding that is the job of (even more dysfunctional) legislative branch.

This, of course, doesn't guarantee that executive or judicial branch couldn't "get religion" and try to get end this situation but it would have it own messiness.

And there you have it - an American legal/government system very much resembling a well built car driven far too long without an overhaul.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#427

Post by willstrafach »

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…

> 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.

This is not true at all. They simply reverse the charges. Businesses who accepted the fraudulent transaction(s) are on the hook for it. Anyone who runs a business and handles credit card processing can confirm this.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#428

Post by KGIII »

agrue wrote: post #421
KGIII wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Time. I'm pretty old, retired, and have a few bucks. Time is my most precious commodity, and I prefer to give it to those who deserve it. I'm not sure how much I'd want someone to pay me for an hour of my time. Clearing up identity theft can take many hours. Those are hours I can spend bugging the missus, or even bugging you folks. I am clearly not to blame for their data exfiltration. Who is going to pay me for my t…

This has been hitting me hard lately. I'm pretty young at the tail end of my 20s, job is finally stable enough not to worry about money, and have really started to realize how few free hours I can find in a week. Work and its on call rotation, obligations to the girlfriend and social circles, maintenance on the house and cars, bills that don't have an auto pay option. Last month my auto registration sticker didn't sh…

I got lucky and sold my business when I was just 49. However, I worked a minimum of 60 hours per week, for years.

Which gets me to my response:

Cherish that time. I don't care about longevity, I care about maximum value. I may be content to die today, but I'm not content wasting time on something that is forced on me.

I don't regret much, but I do regret my time that was wasted by others. As I look back, I see do many situations where I could have disallowed that while still getting the same eventual outcome.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#429

Post by llsf »

ChrisLomont wrote: post #385
unclebucknasty wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So why can't I have a mobile app (or three) for free Yes, and I think it's a bigger question of why we have so little control over or access to our own data in the first place? It's a racket that they monetize our data by selling it to others, then charge us again to access and protect it. And, if you've ever had to go through the pain of having something corrected in a timely fashion, then you know it's doubly-mad…

>Yet, without our data, they'd have no business Yet, without credit rating agencies, you'd get no loans.

There is no such agencies in lots of countries (e.g. France) and still people get loans. When I came to US, I had to purposely take extra credits/loans to boost my inexistent credit history. Now I am credit worthy thanks to my artificial debt.
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