The Novato, Calif.-based Rothken law firm brought the suit on behalf of plaintiff Kristopher Johns. The 22-page complaint (read it here, .pdf). It alleges Sony violated the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, which is meant to protect credit card data, and didn’t follow legal requirements to protect customer records.
Sony’s early public statements concerning the outage, followed by the revelation of the security breach five days later, also constitute a failure to appropriately warn customers they were at risk.
No dollar figure is cited in the complaint, but it seeks the full range of damages – compensatory, statutory, and punitive. And lawyers’ fees, too.
Class Action Lawsuit Brought Against Sony Over PSN Data Breach [Gamasutra]
Jakob Smolinski
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 8:40 AMWay to jump the gun *facepalm*
Shane
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 9:07 AMAnyone wondering why they delayed their announcements… this idiot is the reason.
Angry_IT_Guy
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 9:11 AMLawsuits! Ha! Unless you have proof of financial fraud, it also has to be linked with the outtage with PSN.
Sue the hackers, not Sony.
TheJagji
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 11:13 AMHaaa, but he is suing on the basis that Sony did not have the protection in the first place, in witch case, Sonly should be sued.
The Insufferable Señor Steengo
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 9:20 AMSony already state in the Playstation Network TOS they’re not liable of your data that they lose, so I think bringing this stuff to court might be a little challenging.
Braaains
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 10:05 AMI’m not an expert on the law or anything, but I’m pretty sure they can’t actually absolve themselves of liability under the law just by saying they’re not liable.
I guess the hard part for the people bringing the lawsuit would be demonstrating that they’ve suffered some kind of loss as a result of this.
Will
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 10:12 AMAny terms and conditions you agree to cannot void legislative obligations. If Sony has breached the law in regards to securing credit card information they may be liable, however measuring punitive damages may be quite difficult.
Either way lawyers will make lots of money.
Awnshegh
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 9:43 AMI bet they conform to PCIDSS and have met their notification obligations. This one will get dismissed.
The lost revenue claims from new releases on the PSN and MMO’s like DC Universe, which are more likely to succeed are a different matter. I’m sure are already being address by Sony to ensure they don’t end up in court.
As it’s not yet a fully paid for service, unlike Live, the potential claims from consumers are going to be seriously limited.
Alinos
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 10:00 AMhighly doubtful they didn’t protect it to the same standards as everyone else.
If hackers want in bad enough they’ll get there
Robert
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 10:02 AMI had my credit card numbers stolen two days before the PS3 network went down! This is BS!!
Tim
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 11:14 AMI totally agree with angry IT guy. Why is it American hungry dog lawyers always show up first when there appears to be an easy buck to be made by suing someone?
Sony did not hand these details out, hackers stole them. Sue the hackers. They should be completely held responsible and reduced to nothing for their pathetic and selfish ILLEGAL actions. And everyone who published or spread the word (key) since should equally be destroyed IMO.
Although in honesty it does appear Sony could work on a bigger better lock for their ‘doors’ storing my sensitive information amongst the 70 million others…
Denaz
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 12:04 PMBut should Sony not be responsible for securely storing our information?
It may be the hackers fault, but Sony could have done a lot more to stop/prevent them from that info, so I beleive they are at fault as well.
ripperhugme
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 11:18 AMThis is why I both love and hate going through a law degree.
Jason Rodwell
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 11:28 AMIm going to be contacting the privacy commissioners office today and speak with P.I.L.C.H (Public Interest Law Clearing House) about my rights and entitlements over this.
Pakka
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 12:27 PMAnd let the losers come out of hiding to gain some fame and what they think may be easy fortune.
Reminds me of that guy who sued Sony last year for the removal of Other OS in Adelaide. Lawls.
coverage
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 4:04 PMI really hope Sony doesn’t lose 24 billion dollars, just a theory but is it possible that we wont be seeing a play station 4 in the near future because of these law suits?
Hooligantuan
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 10:02 PMMy biggest concern with this lawsuit is, particularly if it succeeds, that it will create a financial vacuum for Sony that they will subsequently need to refill to maintain their bottom line.
How might that loss be filled most easily?
Charging a fee to game on the PlayStation Network. Sony have been relative saints in that they have not yet followed XBox Live’s subscription fee system, but this could be the backbreaker.
dann
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 10:57 PMi bet these “hackers” are just people that work for microsoft, just a thought.
na
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 11:00 PMSony is responsibe for loss or damages due to the hackers they can not absolve liability by sating they are not liable for any loss due to negligence. there are certain ways credit cards are to be stored by companies it is PCI protecting credit card information if they have not done this they are liable. As there have been claims of people losing money due to it they are liable full stop i work for insurance and they can not weave liability if they are found liable they pay its really simple… not to mention sony will more than likely have insurance and they will be the ones to pay in the end.
Apris
Friday, April 29, 2011 at 4:51 AMWow… is he suggesting that SONY isn’t PCI-DSS compliant. He may as well sue Visa, MasterCard and American Express as well since they are the ones who have regularly had SONY’s PCI-DSS compliance tested and passed them.
Mloren
Friday, April 29, 2011 at 9:25 PMThis lawsuit is totally justified. If Sony had encrypted all the personal data this would never have happened. The fact that a multi-billion dollar service didn’t have this is absurd. It’s their negligence that led to this.
Pigs_milk
Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 9:07 AMDaaaaaam i wish i had a ps3 instead of a Xbox so i could get a slice of the “sorry from sony” pie