Ont. woman sues Sony over data breach

A proposed class action lawsuit has been filed in Ontario on behalf of about one million Canadian PlayStation and Qriocity users.

Sony Corp. said Monday that hackers may have taken personal information from more than 100 million user accounts worldwide in recent PlayStation Network breaches.

Sony has acknowledged that the information may include users' names, addresses, birth dates, passwords and billing information.

The Toronto law firm McPhadden Samac Tuovi is proposing the class action suit against Sony Japan, Sony USA, Sony Canada and other Sony entities for breach of privacy.

The lawsuit claims damages in excess of $1 billion, which includes having Sony pay the costs of credit monitoring services and fraud insurance coverage for two years.

The representative plaintiff in the action, which contains allegations that haven't been proven in court, is Natasha Maksimovic, 21, of Mississauga, Ont.

"If you can't trust a huge multinational corporation like Sony to protect your private information, who can you trust?" Maksimovic asked Tuesday in a release.

The statement of claim filed Tuesday says Maksimovic signed up for the PlayStation Network and Qriocity, as required by Sony, to use her PlayStation Portable and Sony E-book reader.

Sony "failed to adequately safeguard certain personal information, financial data and usage data," the statement alleges.

"The defendants delayed notifying the proper law enforcement agencies and delayed in notifying and/or warning the plaintiff and other class members of the potential theft of their personal information and/or financial data," the filing claims.

The claim alleges Sony has exposed PlayStation and Qriocity users to identity theft and theft from bank and credit cards and "fear, anxiety (and) emotional distress."

Sony has 20 days to file a statement of defence in Canada, 40 days in the United States and 60 days outside Canada and the U.S.