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Identity theft victims to sue NCsoft
Online games giant faces potential $230m lawsuit

Simon Burns, vnunet.com 02 Mar 2006
http://www.whatpc.co.uk/vnunet/news/2151224/identity-theft-victims-sue?page=2

Sorry if posted

Lawyers in South Korea have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of more than 230,000 victims of identity theft in an online game.

The suit will claim damages of about $1,000 for each plaintiff whose identity was used to register new accounts in NCsoft's popular games, Lineage and Lineage 2, according to media reports.

Most of the identify thefts took place over the past six months as underground gaming syndicates stole victims' official Korean ID numbers in hacking attacks and used them to register hundreds of thousands of Lineage accounts.

As reported last week by vnunet.com, the new accounts were then 'farmed' by low paid workers in Chinese gaming sweatshops to generate 'gold' and other game-world items that could be sold for real world cash.

NCsoft has claimed that it registered the bogus accounts in good faith, and has denied responsibility for the initial theft of ID numbers that made the crime possible.

As well as Lineage, which claims millions of players worldwide, NCsoft operates popular games like City of Heroes, City of Villains and Guild Wars in Europe and the US, and plans to release the much-anticipated Auto Assault this summer.

The company earned pre-tax profits of $86m last year on revenue of $346m. Staff who answered a call to NCsoft's office in Seoul declined to identify themselves or to comment on the identity theft case.
As befits South Korea's tech-savvy citizens, who reportedly spend an average of five hours a day online, the lawsuit is being organised through an online legal portal.

Lawmarket Asia allows plaintiffs to 'auction' their cases to the law firm that promises the highest payout or the lowest fee.

The identity theft cases have generated considerable public comment, as well as complaints, in South Korea.

However, a Lawmarket spokesman told the Korea Herald that, as of Tuesday, only about 100 people had joined the class action suit. The company charges each claimant a $1 fee to join.

Korea's Information Ministry has announced a series of measures which it hopes will prevent a recurrence of the mass ID theft.

These include checking that game and website operators have applied up-to-date security patches, and bolstering monitoring activities by the country's Cyber Terror Response Center, a specialised police division. Police have asked China's assistance in tracking down the perpetrators.

In addition, the Ministry said that it will strongly discourage game operators from demanding government identity numbers from gamers, even though this has proved a simple and convenient way to sign up in the past, and will help them develop an alternative system.


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