Following conversations with the Attorney General’s office, Equifax has updated the language on its website (www.equifaxsecurity2017.com) to make explicitly clear that no consumer will be required to waive his/her legal right to a class action lawsuit as a condition for enrolling in the company’s free credit monitoring and identify theft protection products.

The language on Equifax’s website has been updated to the following:

To confirm, enrolling in the free credit file monitoring and identity theft protection products that we are offering as part of this cybersecurity incident does not prohibit consumers from taking legal action. We have already removed that language from the Terms of Use on the site www.equifaxsecurity2017.com. The Terms of Use on www.equifax.com do not apply to the TrustedID Premier product being offered to consumers as a result of the cybersecurity incident. Again, to be as clear as possible, we will not apply any arbitration clause or class action waiver against consumers for claims related to the free products offered in response to the cybersecurity incident or for claims related to the cybersecurity incident itself.

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said, “The Equifax breach potentially exposed sensitive personal information for over eight million New Yorkers. The victims of this breach shouldn’t also have to worry that they’ve waived their legal rights simply because they were trying to protect themselves. That’s why my office reached out to Equifax last week about the terms of use. We’ll continue to keep a close eye on the situation, as we get to the bottom of how and why this massive hack occurred.”

Last week, Attorney General Schneiderman announced that his office launched a formal investigation into the breach, and issued a number of consumer alerts to protect those impacted.

By martha

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