Meagan Simpson reports that a Toronto man is suing Facebook Inc., Facebook Canada, and Cambridge Analytica. The basis for his suit is that he has experienced hundreds of unwarranted calls and emails since the breach, he claims, and those calls and emails are due to the breach of his information. The whole experience, he alleges, has increased his anxiety significantly:
Mattucci claims to have received and continues to receive anywhere from 10 to 20 unsolicited calls and emails every day. He said that these ‘irritants’ started right around the time of the data breach and feels there is a pretty clear connection.
These calls and emails, said his lawyer Darryl Singer, have exacerbated already existing anxiety issues. “[His anxiety] is a result of knowing his information is out there, receiving dozens and dozens of these unwanted calls and emails and not knowing who has his info or how it’s going to be used.”
Singer told IT World Canada that this has caused his client significant pain and grief as well as a loss of quality of life. Mattucci is receiving psychological treatment and has had to increase his medications since the whole experience began.
Read more on The London Free Press.
I know different countries have different standards for lawsuits over breaches, but if this suit was filed in the U.S., I’d be thinking about snowballs in excessively hot environments. But does this type of claim have any kind of reasonable chance of prevailing in Canada?