California Judge Rules Against Disclosure

A California judge has ruled against plaintiffs who had accused CardSystems Solutions, Visa, and MasterCard of failing to notify them as required by state law following a computer breach that exposed the personal information of 40 million individuals. The breach happened in June, and, according to CardSystems Solutions, records on approximately 200,000 individuals were taken from the network. California law requires notification in most such cases, and a law firm in the state had brought a class action suit against the companies, which had refused to pursue notifications. The suit sought to compel the companies to notify all affected consumers and to cover any fees or other expenses incurred as a result of ID theft stemming from the incident. Judge Richard Kramer found for the defendants, however, saying he failed to see the emergency. “I don’t think there is an immediate threat of irreparable injury” to consumers, he said.

The Register, 24 September 2005