When the Impact Team hackers broke through Ashley Madison, they set into motion a lot of controversy and cheating allegations from the leaked names on the site. It's like Pandora's box where all the evil was released into the world. As a result, the online dating service got confronted by a $578 million class-action lawsuit.
Time reported that Avid Dating Life and Avid Life Media, the companies that operate the website Ashley Madison with the catchphrase "Life is Short. Have an Affair," was the recipient of a $578 million lawsuit filed by two Canadian law firms over the hack which left around 39 million users' private information out in the open.
On Thursday, Sutts, Strosberg LLP and Charney Lawyers filed the case against the Toronto-based companies for the benefit of affected Canadians who logged in to the online dating service.
The law firms released a statement that said: "Numerous former users of AshleyMadison.com have approached the law firms to inquire about their privacy rights under Canadian law. They are outraged that AshleyMadison.com failed to protect its users' information. In many cases, the users paid an additional fee for the website to remove all of their user data, only to discover that the information was left intact and exposed."
The filed class-action lawsuit did not include collecting damages from the Impact Team hackers who were responsible for the release of the sensitive information.
According to The Christian Science Monitor, data found in the dump traced back to military personnel, government officials, civil servants and top-level executives and a lot more. Thus, questions have been raised regarding the security servers that both corporations and government agencies used.
The Impact Team released a statement together with the data dump, "It was [Avid Life Media] that failed you and lied to you. Prosecute them and claim damages. Then move on with your life. Learn your lesson and make amends. Embarrassing now, but you'll get over it."
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has yet to verify the status of the class-action lawsuit.
Business Insider detailed that although those who cheated on their wives or partners when they entered Ashley Madison have been exposed, it's not a victory for the society because nonetheless, they too were victims of an invasion to their privacy which is a serious matter. Those of you who have judged those who were caught in the open may have to think twice of praising the hackers. You'll never know, maybe next time your privacy may be invaded by them, too.
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