Regina lawyer contemplates suing Ashley Madison

A well known Regina lawyer is contemplating suing the website for cheaters, Ashley Madison.

After the controversial site was hacked and a massive database of users exposed where sensitive personal information was revealed, Tony Merchant weighed in on Mainstreet.

“We might sue, somebody’s going to sue [Ashley Madison], because they haven’t had adequate protection. So, they’re making a ton of money from having information that they could have kept private,” he explained. “They have this confidential level of information. They know how important it is and even so they’re not putting proper protection.”

He went so far as to say he thinks the site’s protection levels were negligent and believes companies need to spend more on their firewall protection systems – even a site as controversial as Ashley Madison, which carries the slogan “Life is short. Have an affair.”

“Usually adultery isn’t the cause of a marriage breakdown, it’s one of the results,” Merchant insisted. He claims his law offices across the country have about twice as many family law files as the next closest law firm in Canada.

Instead of morality, Merchant thinks this privacy breach is more about money. He outlined how the hack wasn’t a direct leak to the public. What it was, he contended, was a drop of information onto what he calls the black market – an online place only skilled hackers visit. There, Merchant believes the information is left for thieves to access and then use for blackmail purposes. He thinks they’ll then sell that info back to the company.

Whether it is about cashing in or simply doing the right thing, either way private information is now in the public realm.

Merchant’s law firm hasn’t sued yet and he said Wednesday afternoon, they don’t know if they will. He added it’s dependent on whether affected customers come forward.