Jun
3
Legal Help, Online/Newsletter Privacy?
June 3rd, 2010 posted by
admin
Someone has been posting personal information about me in a high school alumni newsletter (as well as on the alumni website). I did not give permission to have such information – residence, marital status, etc. – posted, and have tried asking the person to refrain from doing so again (and taking down posts already up). He/She has refused, so I have contacted the alumni organization to take the information down.
I realize that this will most likely turn into a legal battle, and I have been searching online to find help for this. However, privacy law seems to extend only to business/consumer relations and government infringement on procreation matters. What area of law would my problem fall under?
RetroRanch says:
June 5th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
None, really. Your residence and marital status of matters of public record. Of course, if you have money to burn, you can hire a lawyer, and they may take it down to avoid spending their own money on one.
Eagle1 Fox2 says:
June 6th, 2010 at 11:44 am
Unfortunately you do not have any recourse. As has been said before, your name, residence, and marital status are all matters of public record. What you are thinking of is libel, except that it is a defense to libel that the information posted be true. For instance, if they posted that you were *** and were married to your partner, then you could take legal action as this would be false. However, merely posting your location and marital status is legal if true.
Also, the Privacy Act of 1974 does not cover you as it only applies to records held by an agency.