A federal judge last week rejected a class-action lawsuit settlement that would have seen TD Ameritrade escape with less than a wrist slap in an egregious data-breach case that touched as many as 6 million customers and should call for at least a public flogging.

U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco ruled that the agreement, which he had granted preliminary approval earlier this year, actually offers so little benefit to those who had personal information exposed that he could not abide giving it a final stamp. As we first reported on Buzzblog more than two years ago, TD Ameritrade received repeated warnings from IT security experts that it had been victimized by hackers and that personally identifiable information of its customers had been comprised.

A subsequent class-action lawsuit, spearheaded by computer consultant Matthew Elvey, was settled out of court by attorneys for both sides -- an agreement Elvey rejected and data-breach experts criticized as sending the wrong message because it offered no real compensation.