Fri, Nov 09, 2012 | 19:04 GMT
Blizzard being sued over Battle.net security, “forceful” Authenticator purchases
Blizzard is being sued in a class action suit, filed last week, over “deceptively and unfairly” charging customers for Battle.net Authenticators to protect their private information from hackers.
The class action suit was filed by two people which claim Blizzard failed to secure personal information and instead forced them to purchase and authenticator “in order to have even minimal protection for their sensitive personal, private, and financial data.”
The suit claims due to Blizzard’s negligence with player information, repeated security breaches occurred, such those in May and when Battle.net was hacked in August.
“Defendants negligently, deliberately, and/or recklessly fail to ensure that adequate, reasonable procedures safeguard the private information stored on this website. As a result of these acts, the private information of plaintiffs and class members has been compromised and/or stolen since at least 2007,” reads the complaint.
“Most recently, on or about May 19, 2012, reports proliferated that class members’ Battle.net accounts had suffered a security breach (‘hack’) at the hands of unknown parties (‘hackers’), and on or about August 4, 2012, hackers massively breached Battle.net’s security and acquired the private information of all of defendants’ customers in the United States, as well as the remainder of North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia.”
Class damages are being sought for “consumer fraud, unjust enrichment, negligence, breach of contract and bailment,” due to the “security problem, and after-market fix,” for StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3.
The claim states players who $6.40 for the authenticator have provided Blizzard with $26 million in sales for something which neither Activision nor Blizzard used to ensure “steps to alert” gamers of hacks were implemented.
The suit also seeks and injunction to forbid Blizzard from “tacking on undisclosed costs” after purchasing a game, and from forcing players to sign up for Battle.net accounts.
Via: Courthouse News, GI International.
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Posted in: Activision Blizzard, Legalities
Tags: battle.net, class action suit, diablo 3, starcraft 2
8 comments
#1
Phoenixblight
09/11/12, 7:11 pm
Good luck with since Blizzard gives so many free variations of the authenticator.
#2
Omelette
09/11/12, 8:11 pm
@1 +1 Stupid lawsuit. Those two guys are going to lose much more than just 6.40$ with this.
#3
GwynbleiddiuM
10/11/12, 6:40 am
All of this fuss over 5 euros?
#4
Yoshi
10/11/12, 6:54 am
Plus I’m sure the authentication app is free…
#5
Eregol
10/11/12, 7:58 am
Yeah, anyone with a smartphone can get an authenticator for nothing.
I happily paid for my authenticator at the time they released them as my account had been hacked and I didn’t want it happening again.
$6.40 is nothing worth worrying about for extra security.
#6
GwynbleiddiuM
10/11/12, 8:27 am
@Eregol, It’s the matter of how low humanity has stooped, not just because the have to to pay 7 USDs. They saw an opportunity to exploit the law to their benefit. People can’t live honest lives anymore, all they want is wake up in the morning and find millions of dollars in their bank accounts. And this is pathetic.
I never got hacked on any of my accounts, but still I got myself an authenticator to make sure I’ll stay safe, and I bought another one to have backup. In any case I hope they lose miserably.
#7
Eregol
10/11/12, 9:24 am
Oh I know.
I’m hating the fact that people want money for little to no effort these days, it’s a culture we have fostered and have no idea how to get rid of it.
#8
jevonski
10/11/12, 4:19 pm
they could stop playing and save themselves even more.