Talk about a nightmare! Hundreds of thousands of people with sexually transmitted diseases have been outed by a popular free dating website.
PositiveSingles is an online service that caters to both gay and straight singles living with STDs ranging from herpes, to HPV, to syphilis, and more. It has now been sued for sharing users’ pictures and profile details with other dating websites, despite promising that it was a “100% confidential and comfortable community” that “[does] not disclose, sell or rent any personally identifiable information to any third-party organizations.”
It all started back to 2011 when an unnamed user accused the parent company of PositiveSingles, SuccessfulMatch, of a privacy breach.
SuccessfulMatch runs a number of niche dating sites, including Herpesinmouth, PositivelyKinky, AIDSDate, ChristianSafeHaven, and MeetBlackPOZ. The company also sells software to entrepreneurs looking to set up their own dating websites. That software, however, contains details of “hundreds of thousands of profiles” registered to SuccessfulMatch’s existing services.
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“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,” his lawyers argued.
Defense attorneys said that after a user completes their registration, a link to the website’s terms of services pops up, which notes that profile details — which include information about HIV and other STD statuses — may be shared with other websites within the SuccessfulMatch network, and that by posting a profile to the site, users agree to this.
But the jury wasn’t convinced.
This week, jurors ruled that SuccessfulMatch made misleading statements and ordered the company pay $1.5 million in compensatory damages and another $15 million in punitive damages.
A spokesman for SuccessfulMatch was not able to say whether the company plans to appeal the verdict.
Well, we definitely know which dating website we won’t be visiting any time soon!
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Graham Gremore is a columnist and contributor for Queerty and Life of the Law. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Cam
In the middle of all the various niche websites there was “ChristianSafeHaven”.
Come on, you know you think it’s funny.
bnard620
@Cam: lol I thought I was the only one
mcflyer54
“… not able to say whether the company would appeal”. The lack of an appeal for a fine totaling $16,500,000 would indicate 1) the company knows an appeal can’t be won because they are guilty and/or 2) the company is run by complete idiots.
Lvng1Tor
@mcflyer54: I’ll take option C…all of the above. The names of all the sites they run are either ridiculous, insulting or just plain WTF
MosesProffitt
I recommend datersearch.com as it is the best dating site. I have been using since long time and I have never found any fake profile.
rachelturner
Really I am shocked…
rachelturner
I just wanted to know you guys about a website called as sensitivedating.org which doesn’t have any fake profiles.