Data leaks out... and lawyers rake it in

摘要

What made the Ameritrade data breach memorable was not that 6.3 million customers had their personal info compromised and inboxes stuffed with spam as a result. No, what made it memorable was that the company had received multiple warnings from IT professionals for more than a year that its database had been compromised - yet took no action before the bits hit the fan last fall. And here's what will make the settlement of a resultant class-action lawsuit memorable, providing a judge overcomes his nausea and eventually blesses the deal: Of the nearly $2 million Ameritrade would pay for its sins, almost all of it would wind up in the pockets of plaintiff's lawyers. What would those victimized get? A year's worth of spam-blocking service. According to an account in Wired: "U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker was concerned whether the deal, which gives more than $1.8 million in legal fees to the plaintiff's attorneys, would provide any real benefits to the class of online brokerage customers."