Headline:
…how to file a claim today
Article:
For now, there’s no official settlement site to enter your information. If you’re eligible, you’ll get an email or letter over the next few months. Settlement documents say that notices will start going out on August. 4. When that happens, there will most likely be a site to file a claim.
What a clickbaity shitpost.
What a clickbaity shitpost.
I think it’s safe to assume the author has had a full career at Reddit before becoming a profesional at ZDNet.
“Compensation” you mean probably a pittance of maybe an hour’s wage and some “identity theft protection” from a credit rating company that’s also suffered data breaches?
these class action lawsuits are nothing but performances that line the pockets of law firms (and the lawyers at the companies) while allowing investors, c-suite executives and board members to direct employees to penny pinch when it comes to keeping private data safe, respecting existing laws and regulations or really caring at all about anything but maximizing quarterly profits.
no one should be initiating or joining any of these class action suits- firms always settle, don’t give two shits about the size of the settlement (so they are never large enough to actually discourage companies, nor compensate those affected), only caring about getting a company to pay their salaries and bonuses while denying theyve ever done anything wrong.
If you qualify, maybe take a moment to contact the law firm and tell them to either actually try to win these cases - seeking penalties that actually deter behavior - or be labeled as obviously complicit in the shitty behavior of the breached company by accepting a settlement that does nothing but pay the law firm and allow ATT to continue to do more of the same. don’t be a willing participant in their sad grift passed off as justice
no one should be initiating or joining any of these class action suits
The only real downside to doing this is losing the ability to sue individually. What’s your success like so far in your suits?
Im saying legitimizing the behavior that leads to these class action lawsuits is the downside to joining them. Companies do not see them as any more than the cost of doing business since the settlements are insignificant. With no real consequences for the behavior, and both sides considering the matter settled, joining them is an endorsement of the whole, corrupted process. We’re the ones enabling law firms by signing up to have then “represent our interests,” when really no class member ever gets anything anywhere near compensation, companies aren’t deterred from their actions, and the only people who profit are the company that gets away with bad behavior and the lawfirm which continues to look for more lousy settlements for income. We should be demanding more, or refusing to join.
We should be demanding more, or refusing to join.
You can only demand more by refusing to join, then suing independently from the class action. Opting out without following up with your own lawsuit is just dividing the settlement up among fewer people without having any impact on what the company is paying out. The settlement is already $177m; why would AT&T care if it gets divided among 100 people or 100,000,000?
If there arent enough people to sign up, the settlement wont be large enough for the law firm to bother pursuing a small settlement. If enough people only signed up for these if the firm was willing to seek actual punitive damages, theyd have to do that if they wanted the case at all.
If the firm is only going to get 100 people to sign on, ATT wouldnt agree to a $177m settlement in the first place. “So a mass movement to force a fundamental shift in this system? that’ll never happen” - Im trying to point out that we’re the ones enabling the system to fail us as consumers, and we collectively have the power to force law firms to seek higher settlements (or actually try to win cases), which would deter companies from cutting so many corners when it comes to our private data.
They haven’t even contacted the people eligible yet, but already have the $177m figure. The vast majority of people who are part of these class actions aren’t involved (or often aware) until after the settlement is agreed upon. It’s based on how many people were potentially impacted, not who signed up. Your main premise is bunk.
