Privacy and cyber security go hand and hand. If the platform you are
utilizing has weak and/or misleading privacy policies and/or weak cyber
security your safety is at risk. The ongoing issues related to the Ashley Madison hack (and Adult Friend Finder) should be a wake
call to everyone who accesses the Internet and digital services.
While this latest hack along with previous major data breaches is very
concerning, I find it very troubling that Ashely Madison intentionally misled
clients about its alleged "Delete" service. For
$19, its users were intentionally misled that their personal information would
be removed from Ashely Madison's records. Obviously this was not the
case. Therefore, from a legal perspective, those who paid $19 to have
their personal data deleted but didn't receive what was promised to them may be
in the greatest position to win damages.
Even though Ashely Madison is based in Canada, the U.S. FTC may get involved
since the company did business in the United States. Since a U.S. federal
appeals court recently affirmed that the FTC has the power to regulate cyber
security it would not surprise me if the FTC gets involved due to
Ashley Madison's alleged weak cyber security and/or because it misled their
clients about its so called "Delete" service.
The bottom line is that Ashely Madison faces tens of millions (or more) of
dollars in potential legal liability either from class action lawsuits and/or
regulators. While this situation may take years to sort out, the lesson
for all is to be careful what you post online and what digital platforms you
trust.
Copyright 2015 by the Law Office of Bradley
S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
