Chicago Tribune 09-02-2015
Chicago-Area Man Sues Ashley Madison So He Can Keep Dating
September 02, 2015
By Dawn Rhodes
A Chicago-area man is suing the Ashley Madison website, which was the target of a massive hack this summer that identified millions of people who used the site to seek extramarital relationships.
Matthew Lisuzzo did not file his lawsuit because he was married and had been outed as a cheater — he’s single, according to his lawyer.
What he’s after is greater protection of his personal financial information, according to his lawsuit. He also wants Ashley Madison to fix its site so he can get back on the dating scene.
The suit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, says Lisuzzo, 40, started an Ashley Madison membership in 2007.
“He said he was looking for relationships with no strings attached,” attorney Tom Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman said Lisuzzo’s personal information was published online after the hack, details that would make him vulnerable to identity theft.
The suit, which names as a defendant Ashley Madison parent company Avid Life Media Inc., asks the court for an injunction that would compel the Toronto-based company to reinforce its website security and prevent any more of Lisuzzo’s information from being released.
“The hackers got the data, threatened to release it and the company did nothing to prevent that from happening,” Zimmerman said. “An injunction will give us some verifiable assurance that they’re actually securing the site and encrypting the data. At least this way we would have the contempt powers of the court to force them to do what they’re publicly claiming to do, but what we’ve already seen them fail to do on two occasions.”
An injunction also would allow Lisuzzo to reboot his personal life. The suit additionally asks the court to make the site shut down numerous accounts of nonexistent women.
“(Lisuzzo) desires to continue to use the services provided by defendant, and spend the credits that he purchased, and spend the credits that he purchased on communications with real female Ashley Madison members, but cannot do so without releasing additional personal information and communications that defendant does not adequately encrypt or protect,” the suit states.
