The online dating service that goes by the slogan “Life is short. Have an affair.”, Ashley Madison, was recently hacked resulting in a breach of all their customers’ private data. Run by parent company, Avid Life Media, Ashley Madison is a website where people can seek extramarital affairs. Over 37 million accounts had been registered through this website prior to the hack and the names, addresses, emails, message history and credit card information of all these members were stolen and publicly released by the hackers. Consequently, many people have decided to take action and sue Ashley Madison for negligently causing damage. The article by Amanda Lee Myers, “8 People Are Suing Ashley Madison Following Data Breach” proceeds to explain that …show more content…
Ashley Madison will only be legally liable for the harm caused to their users if they owe them a duty of care. Anonymity is one thing that is promised when creating an account, meaning that all personal information such as names and credit card information will remain private. Since this is an online website, and websites tend to be hacked, one might argue that the data breach was reasonable foreseeable, especially since the hackers had threatened the company days before releasing the information. The duty of care that they owed to their customers was too keep everything they shared onto the website confidential. Therefore, the defendant, Ashley Madison, did owe a duty of care to their …show more content…
Since the harm caused was foreseeable, the company could have hired someone that would make the website less possible for hackers to access. This is reasonable because Ashley Madison is a successful online business that has the financial ability to hire a software engineer that can encrypt the website to make it more secure. In addition, since the company was already contacted by the hackers, they should have taken the necessary precautions to ensure that they could not hack the website. However, since the company failed to protect their members’ personal information before the hackers gained access to it, especially since this is the type of website that promises their users that everything is kept private, they breached the standard care. Step Three: Did the Defendant’s Careless Act (or Omission) Cause the Plaintiff’s Injury? If we consider that if Ashley Madison had hired someone to encrypt the website so that no one could access personal and financial information prior to the hacking, the website would not have been able to be hacked. They knew that there was a potential that someone could have hacked into their website, nevertheless, their lack of care is what brought the situation upon themselves. Therefore, since the data breach caused emotional and financial harm upon the registered members of the website and the people in their lives, Ashley Madison’s
In Greene’s Case, they had Ms. Lawson sign a confidentiality agreement that was disregarded by the defendant. Although the accused became distraught with the loss of her position, it was wrong to relay the information regarding ever-gold to a competitor. c) Facts to be
The University of Notre Dame argues that they do not owe Letitia Hayden a duty to protect her from the third party’s actions. The reasoning behind this was that the actions of a third party are unforeseeable, therefore Notre Dame owed Letitia Hayden no duty to anticipate the actions and protect her. Therefore, Notre Dame is not liable. Holdings
Memorandum To: Attorney of Jennifer Lawson From: Jackson Biegler Date: October 7, 2017 Re: Greene’s Jewelry Wholesale v. Jennifer Lawson for Breach of Contract Application of the Law to the Facts Greene’s defense should build its case around precedence and law while being shielded by public policy. Greene’s defensive position is precise and to the point, as Greene’s is in the process of suing Ms. Lawson for her part in breach of confidentiality for contacting Howell shortly after being fired from their company. Ms. Lawson offered to work for Howell, a direct competitor of Greene’s and provided Howell with confidential information about Ever-gold.
In “Avatars, Scarlet ‘A’s, and Adultery in the Technological Age” by an Assistant Professor of Law Sandi S. Varnado explore the new increasing twist on the age-old issue of adultery and online infidelity by using technology that causes many divorces between marriages. Nowadays people have love affairs using the Internet, specifically to communicate with others. According to Varnado, she reports that in December 2012 a survey revealed that 81% of all adults in the United States use the Internet, which has impacted our society in both positive and negative ways (372). Varnado also emphasizes that given the appearance and prevalence of online sexual satisfaction, it is not difficult to imagine that many Internet users are engaging in online. When
Conseco Grp. Risk Mgmt. Co. v. Ahrens Fin. Sys., 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2306, at *1. Ultimately, the Court held that in matters involving public concern, whether private or public figure, a plaintiff was required to show actual malice in order to recover presumed or punitive damages.
Teresa's case was submitted to the jury on the counts alleging breach of contract, negligence and wantonness, and the tort of outrage. The jury returned a verdict against Akins and in favor of both plaintiffs. The jury assessed compensatory damages at $450,000 and punitive damages at $150,000, for a total of $600,000 in Megan's case; in Teresa's case, the jury assessed compensatory damages of $200,000 and punitive damages of $150,000, for a total of $350,000.”
Due to the defendant’s negligence and lack of regard for safety, the court found that the defendant did owe a duty of care to the
Online Social Networks The topic I decided to choose for my Rogerian Proposal is “Online Social Networks” Online social network sites enable people throughout the world to link with others who share similar interests. Online Social Network allows members the opportunity to post updates, pictures, videos, and other material and share this information with designated recipients. The vast popularity of these websites has produced a number of issues, from privacy and safety concerns to questions regarding the long-term societal effect of online exchanges.
Social media are web technologies that permit individuals to interface impart and connect progressively to share and trade data. This incorporates Facebook, websites, Twitter, email etc. (Social Media and Electronic Communication, 2012). The nurse taking his particular case and excuse to media compromises the confidentiality and privacy of the patient. The privacy of the patient was breached by the instance of the nurse taking the matter to social platforms.
Due to this minors are able to use the website without the knowledge of the website, this means that it is still restricted for sex offenders solely because of the possibility of a minor being present on the site. This restricts almost every website including college sign-up websites, amazon, and even google search engine. The internet is such a part of human life that it is now considered a basic human right by the united nations. If the law is so broad that sex offenders are advised to just avoid it entirely, then they are being denied the basic human rights that all people have. According to Amnesty International “Human rights are basic rights and freedoms that all people are entitled to regardless of
The rapid proliferation of information technology has led to a significant rise in the number of people who use the internet in one way or another. With the growth in the number of persons who have an internet connection; certain individuals have begun to exploit this resource through the unethical practice of Identity theft. As more and more individuals are posting their personal information online, cybercriminals are stealing this information with the aim of assuming the victim's identity so as to either obtain financial advantage or benefits that are associated with the victim (Jewkes, 2013). The act of stealing other people's identity cannot be considered as ethical because it violates the victim's right to privacy.
“Once you’ve lost your privacy, you realize you’ve lost an extremely valuable thing” - Billy Graham. “Invasion of privacy is a legal term. It is used to describe a circumstance where an individual or organization knowingly intrudes upon a person. The intrusion occurs when the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as in a bathroom or locker room”(Winston). There are many factors that help with the loss of privacy these days.
Then, it also can cause public and personal embarrassment. While the level of embarrassment may not be as public as it was for someone famous, it is still enough to damage someone’s personal life. This can lead to further torture for the victim as it may cause them to be ridiculed by their peers. These issues that are caused by catfishing are so dangerous because of the damage they can cause. The damage can often be magnified by the fragile state that a person is usually in because of the trust and love they feel for the person they think they are corresponding with.
Also, she says that the majority of companies are using tools which help them see the accounts of its employees B. Sub point B: cause 2: In the article on howstuffworks.com written by Dave Roos, he says that hacking on social media requires a few technical skills. it does not require many technical skills because some people are not aware of privacy settings or they just decide not to use it. Also, he says that hacking an account in social media is a psychological game because the only thing they need to unlock the account is the information they have on their profiles.
They were giving so much to a complete stranger, like money, where at the end they could not do anything about it because the damage was already done and they did not know anything about the real person since they were living in a fantasy. Others say that minors using social media gives them a chance to express their inner thoughts as a sort of freedom. However, they get carried away with this freedom using it as an excuse to meet others and post personal information. It is an easy access to learn everything about a person like the things they like, where they study, their family, and many