doe_vs_godaddyamazon

Amazon, GoDaddy Sued For Hosting Ashley Madison Data
Share us on:   By Jody Godoy

Law360, New York (September 4, 2015, 8:46 PM ET) -- Three anonymous former users of extramarital hook-up site Ashley Madison have sued Amazon Web Services Inc., GoDaddy.com LLC and three website operators in Arizona federal court for making Ashley Madison's hacked data available for public perusal, seeking $3 million in damages.

The plaintiffs from California, New Jersey and Maryland on Thursday brought claims against three John Roes and their affiliates who run websites where the public can search the massive data dump for specific users. That information is stolen property and the website creators and Internet service providers are criminally liable for possessing it, the plaintiffs allege.

“While these persons and entities may labor under the belief that their actions are entrepreneurial rather than criminal, the fact remains that they are in willful possession of stolen property,” the plaintiffs said.

The three plaintiffs say they had all provided personal and financial information through Ashley Madison to open accounts since 2008 but before the breach of data on the site's 37 million members.

By running adulterysearch.com, ashleymadisoninvestigations.com and greyhatpro.com, the three Roe defendants are illegally holding on to the stolen data, the plaintiffs claim. The three sites offer searches of the hacked information for fees ranging from $4.99 to $149.99, according to the complaint.

Amazon Web Services hosts greyhatpro.com, while the other two sites are hosted by GoDaddy.com, according to the plaintiffs. Neither ISP has complied with the John Does' Aug. 31 letter informing them the data offered by the sites is stolen and demanding they take the sites down, the plaintiffs said.

One of the sites posted a statement apparently rebutting the Does' claims. Adulterysearch.com, which is also accessible at Ashleymadisonpowersearch.com, has a disclaimer for “law enforcement and attorneys” claiming that none of the breached data is actually hosted on the site or its ISP and that the service is legal, “despite it being objectionable to many.”

“Attempting to use legal process in bad faith to shut down this website constitutes abuse of process and intentional interference with business relations,” the statement reads.

On a page on the site, the Adulterysearch.com operator identifies himself as “Benjamin,” and claims to hold a law degree and have “experience in commercial litigation, intellectual property, and data privacy law.”

All three plaintiffs are bringing claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress against the website operators, negligent infliction of emotional distress and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act against all defendants.

In addition to the claim under California law that the defendants received stolen property, the California plaintiff is suing for violation of the state's Unfair Competition Law.

The plaintiffs told the court they would move to file anonymously if necessary, saying the practice has “gained wide currency, particularly given the rapidity and ubiquity of disclosures over the World Wide Web, so long as the opposing parties’ rights are not prejudiced thereby.” In this suit, they told the court “anonymity is necessary to preserve privacy in a matter of sensitive and highly personal nature — namely, the issue of extra-marital affairs.”

The hackers who claimed responsibility for the breach announced they had released the data onto the Internet on Aug. 18. Since then, Toronto-based Avid Life Media, the company that runs Ashley Madison, has been hit with a flurry of class actions from anonymous users who claim the site should have done more to live up to its promises of secrecy.

One of those suits was filed by a man in Alabama who claims he was not in a relationship at the time he used the site, but that he since got engaged. After the data was publicized, he became the target of embarrassing inquiries from his friends and family members, the plaintiff alleged.

A judge has not yet ruled on the Alabama plaintiff's request to proceed anonymously because of “the embarrassment and emotional distress” caused by the publication of the information.

Representatives for Amazon Web Services and GoDaddy did not reply to requests for comment on Friday.

The plaintiffs are represented by Karl S. Kronenberger, Jeffrey M. Rosenfeld and Virginia A. Sanderson of Kronenberger Rosenfeld LLP.

Counsel information for the defendants was not available on Friday.

The case is John Doe 1 et al. v. GoDaddy.com LLC et al., in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. The case number was not immediately available.

--Additional reporting by Steven Trader, Y. Peter Kang and Emily Field. Editing by Kelly Duncan.