Fanning the flames that fired me
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ACS:Law solicitor is fined for shoddy data security
THE OWNER OF THE FORMER law firm ACS:Law has been fined for having rubbish IT security.
Andrew Crossley, the former proprietor of ACS:Law, which specialised in harassing filesharers for alleged copyright violations at the behest of big media firms, has been fined £1,000 for its dodgy IT security.
It might not be that much but it's enough to put a smile on the faces of the people whom ACS:Law bulk mailed accusing them of copyright infringement. However, it won't do much to please the 6,000 people whose personal information Crossley didn't protect.
In fact, it's only because ACS:Law went out of business that the fine was so low. Crossley was listed as the sole owner so if his former company was still trading it could have cost him up to £200,000.
"The security measures ACS Law had in place were barely fit for purpose in a person's home environment, let alone a business handling such sensitive details," said Information Commissioner Christopher Graham.
Crossley was out to make a fortune by pursuing filesharers after getting personal information from ISPs after users had their bandwidth, uploads and downloads monitored on the assumption they were engaged in copyright violations.
Apparently Crossley had no IT systems in place and set ACS:Law up without so much as a firewall or access control. ACS:Law's web-hosting package was also set up for only domestic use. µ
Tags: Software
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Expect a similar fine Sony, another company who don't give a stuff about personal data.
"It might not be that much but it's enough to put a smile on the faces of the people whom ACS:Law bulk mailed accusing them of copyright infringement."
No. No, it's not. This fine is absurdly inappropriate. The ICO should be ashamed. They have been made a laughing stock by a man with no morals who will say *anythng* to avoid the just consequences of his actions.