Judge Dismisses Students' Privacy Lawsuit Over Computer Breaches

Thursday, August 30th 2007, 7:32 am

By: News On 6

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) _ A judge dismissed a lawsuit by two Ohio University graduates whose Social Security numbers were among thousands exposed in a series of security breaches involving school computers, the university said.

Donald Jay Kulpa of Cincinnati and Kenneth Neben of North Bergen, N.J., argued their right to privacy had been violated after the security breaches were discovered last year.

The lawsuit asked a judge to order the school to pay for credit monitoring services for the people whose personal information may have been compromised.

Judge J. Craig Wright of the Ohio Court of Claims granted a motion by the university Wednesday to dismiss the case, saying the plaintiffs failed to prove they suffered damages for which they could be compensated, the school said.

Attorneys for Ohio University, about 60 miles southeast of Columbus, argued that Kulpa and Neben based their claims on vague fears.

There have been no proven cases of identity theft or fraud linked to the security breaches, university officials have said.

A message seeking comment was left Wednesday at the Cincinnati office of attorney Marc Mezibov, who represents the two graduates.

The university last April discovered breaches in four computer systems, exposing about 367,000 files containing Social Security numbers, names, medical records and home addresses. The university later revised those numbers, stating that about 173,000 people's files were affected.

An investigation by technology analysts concluded that hackers were trying to share and store music and movie files, the university said in a statement Wednesday.