Am I Liable for this?

[recover]

I created a website and it asks for the address of the people that register on the site?

Suppose the site gets hacked..and the addresses are collected..can i be sued by the users because their addresses are now taken and possibly exploited?

If this is the case, i will be removing the section on the registration form that asks for address....

Ty

 

[quincy]

I created a website and it asks for the address of the people that register on the site?

Suppose the site gets hacked..and the addresses are collected..can i be sued by the users because their addresses are now taken and possibly exploited?

If this is the case, i will be removing the section on the registration form that asks for address....

Ty

Email addresses or home addresses?

 

[recover]

Email addresses or home addresses?

When people sign up on the site, they need to provide some address for our geo/taregeting map.

They enter whatever address they like..home, business, po box...we have no control on what they enter.

My fear is that the site gets hacked and their addresses also get taken.....and possibly exploited

Should this feature be removed? I kinda feel nervous about it..it is their physical address..not email

Ty

 

[quincy]

When people sign up on the site, they need to provide some address for our geo/taregeting map.

They enter whatever address they like..home, business, po box...we have no control on what they enter.

My fear is that the site gets hacked and their addresses also get taken.....and possibly exploited

Should this feature be removed? I kinda feel nervous about it..it is their physical address..not email

Ty

If you don't need the addresses and the address feature is one that can be eliminated without problem, it might ease your anxiety a bit to remove the address part of registration. Are the physical addresses the only "private" information you are gathering on the users of your site?

Generally, unless you have made your site easy to hack or you are complicit somehow in the hacking of the site and/or in the exploiting of the addresses for a nefarious purpose, it would not be likely that you would be targeted in any lawsuit or named in any criminal action that results. The hacker would be the one held responsible for accessing the addresses without authorization.

 

[recover]

If you don't need the addresses and the address feature is one that can be eliminated without problem, it might ease your anxiety a bit to remove the address part of registration. Are the physical addresses the only "private" information you are gathering on the users of your site?

Generally, unless you have made your site easy to hack or you are complicit somehow in the hacking of the site and/or in the exploiting of the addresses for a nefarious purpose, it would not be likely that you would be targeted in any lawsuit or named in any criminal action that results. The hacker would be the one held responsible for accessing the addresses without authorization.

the physical address is one of the only private things we ask for....we also ask them to enter their paypal address so they can get paid..their paypal address is simply an email address they use....

for their profile, they enter their first and last name...

that's all the information we collect......

If an user lists a project...the google map shows their location based on the address they provided....

 

[quincy]

the physical address is one of the only private things we ask for....we also ask them to enter their paypal address so they can get paid..their paypal address is simply an email address they use....

for their profile, they enter their first and last name...

that's all the information we collect......

If an user lists a project...the google map shows their location based on the address they provided....

It doesn't sound like you have much to worry about. Hackers exist, but hacking is not as prevalent as many may believe.

The sites that handle confidential (medical, financial) information for users are the ones that need to be most concerned with security on their sites. But anyone who uses the internet, even on secured sites, should be aware that there is always going to be some risk that the information they post online could be compromised.

If you just created a website, you might consider having a professional look the site over to check for areas of risk that you might want to address now. Having insurance to cover your website is something to consider if you haven't looked into it already.

Good luck.