Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick




ChoicePoint Leaked Your Data? Too Bad, Nothing You Can Do

from the how-nice dept

Adding a bit of insult to injury, as news continues to spread about how ChoicePoint handed all of your private data to a group of scammers, it turns out that the law says you pretty much have no recourse at all. Apparently, those impacted by ChoicePoint's own inability to identify scammers using their data, have no legal standing against ChoicePoint because they're not customers of ChoicePoint. So, ChoicePoint can collect whatever data they want about whoever they want, do anything they want with it, and those whose data is being misused have absolutely no recourse at all.

4 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

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  1. Feb 23rd, 2005 @ 11:30am

    No Subject Given

    by Anonymous Coward

    That's just it. ChoicePoint didn't leak the data. ChoicePoint sold it to them. Anyone can set up a company and buy the data they (CP) sell. (Apparently they do some cursory background checks, but obviously not very thorough.) That's what ChoicePoint does, they sell the data. The data was sold, as it is hundreds of times a day. The only thing different in this case is that the buyers were businesses set up fraudulently by a ring of identity theives. The only crime (so far) is registering the business fraudulently, and whatever fraud the ID thieves have perpetrated on the unlucky, hapless individuals whose data they used. Sure, they sold it to someone you'd rather not have it, but they do that anyway - telemarketers, direct mail, probably even spammers.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  2. Feb 23rd, 2005 @ 5:18pm

    to paraphrase the matt mcannahey character in edtv

    by Anonymous Coward

    Some of those ChoicePoint executives probably have made some interesting purchasing decisions and have other interesting data...

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  3. Feb 24th, 2005 @ 9:43am

    one can file a tort claim against anyone

    by sly squirrel

    You need to do nothing to file any tort, other than to pay the filing fee.

    I think people with real cases will probably do so and make it hurt.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  4. Feb 25th, 2005 @ 8:27am

    No Subject Given

    by Nick

    ChoicePoint is real buddy-buddy with the current powermongers in the gub'ment. They might get a (highly publicized) slap on the wrist, but too bad it will be with a wet noodle.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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