Consumers Affected
143,000,000
New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino announced that New Jersey has joined a multi-state investigation into Equifax following a data breach affecting 143 million consumers. The multi-state group sent a letter demanding Equifax disable fee-based credit monitoring services and reimburse consumers for credit freeze fees with other bureaus, citing unfair practices and a months-long delay in breach disclosure.
Equifax is demanded to disable enrollment links for fee-based credit monitoring services and to reimburse consumers for fees incurred when obtaining security freezes from other credit bureaus, such as Experian and Transunion.
Entity
Equifax
Industry
Data Broker$175.0M
California Attorney General led a multistate settlement with Equifax for a 2017 data breach that exposed personal information of 147 million consumers due to security failures and delayed disclosure. Equifax must pay $175 million in state penalties, $425 million for consumer restitution, and implement data security enhancements including a comprehensive Information Security Program and credit monitoring for up to ten years.
A former employee of the New Jersey Department of Children and Families was indicted for allegedly leaking confidential child protection case information in exchange for bribes. The defendant, Susaida Nazario, misused her access to provide case details to an unauthorized individual, compromising sensitive children's data.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced that New Jersey is joining a coalition of 22 states in suing Uber for deceptive practices related to its Uber One subscription service. The lawsuit alleges that Uber enrolled consumers without their knowledge and made cancellation extremely difficult, seeking restitution, penalties, and an injunction under New Jersey's Consumer Fraud Act and the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin is leading a bipartisan coalition of 42 attorneys general in sending a letter to 13 tech companies, demanding that they implement safeguards for their AI chatbots to prevent harmful interactions such as sexually explicit conversations with children, encouraging self-harm, and spurring violence, following reports of serious incidents including deaths and self-harm.
The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs sent warning letters to over 3,000 auto dealerships reminding them of the state's data deletion law, which requires dealerships to offer to delete personal data from vehicles when accepting them for resale or lease. Failure to comply can result in fines of $500 for first offenses and $1,000 for subsequent offenses, aimed at preventing unauthorized access to sensitive consumer information stored in vehicle infotainment systems.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for demanding that states turn over sensitive personal information of SNAP recipients, including Social Security numbers and addresses. The lawsuit argues that this demand violates federal privacy laws and the Constitution, as the data is protected and should only be used for program administration. The coalition seeks to block USDA from conditioning SNAP funding on compliance with this demand.