Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Blizzard's next endeavor? The Lord of Mediation.

I'm not really sure which of the Prime Evils the attorneys work for directly.
Image from a Diablo III wallpaper available here.
Activision Blizzard Inc. is headed for arbitration with a group of gamers upset about a security breach last August, according to an article by Jeffrey Benzing at Main Justice. Both parties have a Sept. 15 deadline to reach a settlement, which is far sooner than Blizzard's usual timeline of "Soon."

At the time, user account data was stolen and scrambled. It's possible an intern broke into tears and shook his fist toward an uncaring god.

The suit alleges that Activision Blizzard didn't do enough to protect player data. Oh, and maybe they weren't so hot at letting folks know some was playing tiddlywinks in their servers.

In fairness, Activision Blizzard's attorney's have pointed out that an increased risk of identity theft is not itself enough for a negligence claim. They also note that none of the aggrieved gamers have shown proof that they were actually harmed by the breach.

In, short, Activision Blizzard is saying if the gamers  want to see the money, then they need to show where they lost it.

Regardless, according to Benzing's article all parties will be going into mediation in order to reach a settlement.

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