A dating website for people with sexually-transmitted diseases has been fined $16.5m after losing a privacy case where they shared confidential client information with third party sites.
A court ruled that Positive Singles, a dating forum who promises a ‘100% confidential and comfortable community’ for people with diseases like herpes, HIV and Syphilis, broken consumer law by sharing photos and profile details with other dating sites.
The jury in California found the website guilty of fraud, malice and oppression, ordering a $16.5m fine after a claimant provided proof that his information was posted on other dating sites with false information.
In documents presented to the court, lawyers for the claimant said:
“Plaintiff is… not black, gay, Christian or HIV positive and was unaware that defendant was creating websites that focused on such traits that would include his profile, thus indicating that he was all of these things and more.”
The company was previously ordered to pay $1.5m in compensatory damages and another $15m in punitive damages in 2011 after a separate claimant found his information had been shared on sites AIDSDate, Herpesinmouth, ChristianSafeHaven, MeetBlackPOZ and Positively Kinky.
Unlike the other sites, PositiveSingles stated that it did not ‘disclose, sell or rent any personally-identifiable information to any third-party organisations’.
