Ashley Madison Faces £365m Lawsuit Over Data Breach

Ashley Madison owners might have more than a few angry emails to worry about in the near future, with a pair of Canadian law firms sending a class action lawsuit to the company.

Avid Dating Life Inc. and Avid Media Life Inc. are facing a £367 million lawsuit from Charney Lawyers and Sutts and Strosberg LLP. Both law firms claim keeping this information on-site with no protection was illegal and Ashley Madison should pay victims in Canada for failure to keep private information safe.

Eliot Shore filed the lawsuit with the help of the two law firms. He joined Ashley Madison after his wife lost her battle with breast cancer. Shore claims he never used the site to cheat and believes that it is an injustice to have his name alongside the 37 million other people that signed up.

Even though Ashley Madison said an email sign-up isn’t proof of cheating, for many it is damaging information. Employers may look at the records, families could be torn apart and people could be bullied for using the site, even if they have never used the site after signing up. 

Ashley Madison is also under fire for its £12 profile delete option. This should have deleted the profile from the service, but it looks like the company didn’t take the time to wipe the email address and other personal information from the database.

The Impact Team released the information after finding out Ashley Madison did not delete emails addresses, even after the user paid the £12. It originally asked for Ashley Madison to be shut down, but the owners did not budge.

It might have been a costly mistake, considering this is just one of many lawsuits coming to Avid Media Life Inc. With reports of suicide by at least one Ashley Madison member, the company might be in for a lot more.