(followup, Acxiom) Class action suit over ID theft tossed out

[Dissent <Dissent () pogowasright org>]

A federal judge in Arkansas has thrown out a class action lawsuit 
against Acxiom, which exposed massive amounts of Americans' personal 
information in a high-profile Internet security snafu three years ago.

Even though a spammer had downloaded more than one billion records 
from the company, U.S. District Judge William Wilson ruled that there 
was no evidence that Acxiom's purloined database had been used to 
send junk e-mail or postal mail.

Because the class action attorneys could not prove that anyone's 
information had actually been misused, Wilson dismissed the case and 
the request for damages on the grounds that any harm would be 
entirely speculative. "Because plaintiff has not alleged that she has 
suffered any concrete damages, she does not have standing under the 
case-or-controversy requirement," he wrote.

The decision (PDF), published on Oct. 3, could prove influential in 
other identity fraud cases where breaches have exposed personal 
information such as home addresses and Social Security numbers, but 
there's no proof that the information has been misused.

[...]

http://news.com.com/Class+action+suit+over+ID+theft+tossed+out/2100-7348_3-6125028.html?tag=nefd.lede

Court Opinion: 
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/acxiom.order.class.action.101106.pdf

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