First lawsuit filed over PSN breach
Class status sought as Sony accused of not taking "reasonable care"
A PlayStation 3 owner in Alabama has been the first to initiate a lawsuit against Sony, following the security breachand potential theft of data from the PlayStation Network.
The complaint was filed on behalf of Birmingham, Alabama resident Kristopher Johns, in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Johns is asking for the lawsuit to be raised to a class action, which if granted would allow any US PlayStation Network user to become a plaintiff in the case.
The details of the lawsuit, as first reported by CNET, cover the basics of the case as already reported. Sony is accused of not taking, "reasonable care to protect, encrypt, and secure the private and sensitive data of its users".
Sony is also accused of taking too long to notify customers of the seriousness of the problem and that personal information was at risk. This, argues the lawsuit, made it impossible for customers to, "make an informed decision as to whether to change credit card numbers, close the exposed accounts, check their credit reports, or take other mitigating actions".
Johns is seeking compensation and free credit reporting services - the latter something which US Senator Richard Blumenthal has already demanded from Sony for all US customers.
Although Sony has already been heavily criticised on both of the lawsuit's two main complaints so far there is still no evidence of fraud or misuse of any stolen data. If such evidence does emerge then Sony's position could weaken significantly.