Court to hear hotel data leak case

Pudong New Area People's Court has agreed to hear a lawsuit involving the leak of more than 20 million residents' hotel check-in data.

The plaintiff, Wang Jinlong, a computer specialist, filed the lawsuit against Hanting Inns & Hotels and Cnwisdom, a WiFi service provider based in Zhejiang Province, after a database emerged online containing a trove of hotel guest information, including his own.

The database, which contained names, addresses, State identification numbers, mobile phone numbers, e-mail addresses and hotel check-in dates, allowed anyone to search for a victim's personal information by typing in a name or ID number.

It remains a mystery who created the database. However, Zhang Wei, a computer specialist and victim who worked with Wang to analyze the leaked information, feared victims of the leak would be vulnerable to hackers, identity thieves and other purveyors of fraud.

Zhang said a large number of the 20 million people whose information was contained in the database are from Shanghai.

"There are roughly 860,000 Shanghai residents whose information has been leaked online, of whom 2 percent are most at-risk for serious crimes, other than telemarketing calls and text messages," he told the Global Times Monday.

Zhang called on the victims to testify in the lawsuit.

"We can only prove that the information came from a hotel chain if enough victims testify that they checked into a specific hotel on the dates that were exposed online," Zhang said.

So far, 40 to 50 people have agreed to testify that their personal information was leaked from Hanting, Zhang said. He planned to launch a website in the near future to find more victims online.

Although more hotel chains are involved, the plaintiff decided to sue a single chain because there aren't enough victims willing to come forward, said Shang Jiangang, the plaintiff's lawyer.

Many victims know that their information was leaked online, but few cared to participate in the lawsuit because they don't believe they will be targeted for any serious crimes, Zhang said.

Still, Zhang believes they are all vulnerable. The information in the database can allow a criminal organization to target victims based on their sex, place of residence and economic status, which could allow them to swindle their targets more easily.

Hackers can also easily obtain a victim's bank account numbers and passwords after hacking into his or her e-mail accounts, Zhang said.

They plaintiff has demanded 200,000 yuan ($33,000) in compensation, which he intends to use to eliminate the leaked information online, Shang told the Global Times.