A federal judge temporarily has barred the government from publicizing its free credit monitoring offer to veterans whose personal data was stolen and wants to see if they might get a better federal offer.
Lawyers who have filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the 26.5 million veterans and active-duty troops affected contend that accepting the government's offer could jeopardize their chance of winning more money in the privacy suit.
The suit seeks free monitoring and other credit protection for an indefinite period as well as $1,000 in damages for each person -- or up to $26.5 billion total -- in what has become one of the nation's largest information security breaches.
Last week, the department announced its plan to offer free monitoring for a year to millions of veterans and nearly all active-duty military troops whose names, birthdates and Social Security numbers were stolen May 3 from a VA data analyst's home in suburban Maryland.
But in court papers, lawyers for veterans said the VA's deal was "incomplete and misleading." The VA must make clear whether veterans who take the government deal will have to give up their rights in court to a potentially larger payout, lawyer Marc Mezibov wrote.
A spokesman for the VA did not have an immediate comment Sunday.
For veterans suspecting identity theft: http://www.firstgov.gov or 1-800-FED-INFO
I don't know quite what to make of this, but my first impression, cynical as always, is that the VA is taking the lead in trying to clean up after their idiot employee and a bunch of lawyers are looking out for their own profit by trying to stop them from doing it. I could be wrong, of course.
Nobody's yet told me not to publicize it.
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