The Data Breach That Wouldn't Die: Judge Questions TJX Settlement Elements
TJX isn't having much luck in the court room these days. A U.S. District judge handling the a proposed settlement of the TJX data breach earlier this year finds some parts of the settlement to much of a burden on consumers.
First, there are those vouchers that are supposed to be as good as cash:
In a courtroom exchange, TJX attorney Harvey J. Wolkoff argued that there is an easy way for a consumer to turn the vouchers into cash."These vouchers are fully transferable, so that someone can take a $30 voucher and sell it on eBay—I've never done it myself—and get $25," Wolkoff said.
Replied Young: "Too hard for me, Mr. Wolkoff. Too hard for me. These are consumers. People know how to cash checks. Saying, 'Go to eBay and negotiate it' won't cut it."
Selling vouchers on eBay? Can you imagine the scams and phishing schemes that would come out of such an idea? I think the judge is actually helping TJX on this one by preventing their brand name from being dragged through the mud in what would become a well publicized scam involving these vouchers.
But that isn't all the bad news from the judge.
There is also the amount of the settlement:
To make sure that he had the plaintiff attorneys' attention, Young hinted that he wanted to tie the true value of the vouchers to legal fees he was prepared to approve. The current settlement has set aside about $6.5 million for the fees for plaintiff attorneys.
The judge wants notices sent to all victims, national ads are not enough. And, oh yea, none of this has any bearing on Canadian victims who are outside the court's jurisdiction.
Every time a story comes out about this breach, it's like free advertising for data loss prevention vendors.
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