LifeLock Spokesperson's Stolen ID Inspires Lawsuits 217
OrochimaruVoldemort writes "It seems as though LifeLock isn't as secure as Todd Davis makes it out. According to a LifeLock spokesman, his identity has been stolen. For two years, Davis has been daring hackers to steal his ID. Looks like he got what he wanted. CNN reports: 'Now, LifeLock customers in Maryland, New Jersey and West Virginia are suing Davis, claiming his service didn't work as promised and he knew it wouldn't, because the service had failed even him.'"
Let's keep this in perspective... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Great secuity (Score:3, Interesting)
identity theft legal? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:"Identify theft" needs a new name (Score:4, Interesting)
The news is... still somewhat of an old story... (Score:2, Interesting)
This guy has been BROADCASTING his Social Security Number for a long time and it was finally compromised. That seems pretty good to me. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if he wasn't BROADCASTING his Social Security Number nationally and daring identity thieves to do their worst. For a normal person, I think this service would probably do a good job so long as you aren't giving everyone your Social Security Number.
The Experian story is interesting, but I think we need more information before making any judgments on that.
We seriously need tort reform in this country. That's the real story.
Experian Deception with FreeCreditReport.com (Score:5, Interesting)
Ron
Re:The news is... still somewhat of an old story.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The news is... (Score:4, Interesting)
The best protection is freezing your credit. That way, no one can check your credit or add new lines of credit. If you want to do anything involving your credit (open a new credit card, get a loan, get a background check), you would then need to unfreeze your credit and refreeze it when the activity was completed. Unfortunately, this costs $5 per action per agency per person. So if a husband and wife want to freeze their credit, it is $5 * 3 (credit agencies) * 2 (people), or $30. If they then want to unfreeze their credit, get a car load, and then refreeze their credit, it would cost $60.
There was a bill awhile back that would have made this free, but the credit industry lobbyists got it killed. After all, if you freeze your credit then you can't sign up for a new credit card at the checkout line of a store to get 10% off your purchase. And that means that you are less likely to have lots of credit card debt interest to pay off. And that means less profits for them.
As far as ID theft is concerned, they honestly don't care. If your identity gets stolen, it's your problem. You need to spend the time and money to prove to them that something went wrong. Any losses due to cards issued during ID theft are written off (or sent to a collection agency to hassle the ID theft victim and further negatively impact their credit rating).
Todd Davis is just lucky that he wasn't a victim of Criminal Identity Theft [blogspot.com].
Re:The news is... (Score:2, Interesting)
>- Also being sued in AZ over the 1 million dollar "service guarantee" because it is being misrepresented and only
>covers "defects in lifelock's service" and not actual identity theft. which they are misrepresenting.
That's interesting because Arizona has a Doctrine of Reasonable Expectations that permits parol evidence even in cases where a contract has a merger clause that would otherwise exclude parol evidence.
That means, if a salesperson said something other than what was stated in the contract, the company can be held to the salesperson's word even if the contract specifically says otherwise. This rule applied to cases involving contracts of adhesion (typical consumer "take it or leave it" contracts where no negotiation is offered or accepted.) Even with a merger clause (language that says, essentially, "only the words in writing in this contract are part of the contract", in contracts of adhesion, anything that either party agreed to while negotiating, is admissible evidence.
If a salesperson for Lifelock ever said to a customer "the company guarantees you will no be a victim of identity theft or we will pay you one million dollars", it's part of the contract, in Arizona.
I don't know how far "misrepresentation" would get, since I'd be quite surprised if the contract wasn't clearly written. But parol evidence and careless salespeople could be devastating to them.
Re:TWO FREAKING YEARS (Score:2, Interesting)
You do however make an excellent point which is that in addition to ruined credit, the time it takes to simply sort the whole thing out is a major issue with identity theft. Something that it seems this service implies that it helps with, but which it actually doesn't.
Re:Great secuity (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:TWO FREAKING YEARS (Score:2, Interesting)