Revealing personal info online

[mike2010]

United States

guys, are there certain laws in place so that people cant post our full name online ?

For instance, i've been a member of this discussion forum for 4 years...and now one of the members is being an azz and threatening to post my first and last name online ?

Is there anything I could do about that ?

or what if they eventually post my address / phone number as well ?

any help is much appreciated.

[Skyymiles]

Originally Posted by mike2010

United States

guys, are there certain laws in place so that people cant post our full name online ?

For instance, i've been a member of this discussion forum for 4 years...and now one of the members is being an azz and threatening to post my first and last name online ?

Is there anything I could do about that ?

or what if they eventually post my address / phone number as well ?

any help is much appreciated.

no, there is nothing you can do really. all of the items you mentioned him posting are considered "public info" by legal definition. there are no laws to protect that kind of data on the internet. sorry. there is a very fine line between public and "personal or private" information. Now if they start posting things like images, schedules, etc. that makes is become more of an invasion of privacy case...

[mike2010]

Originally Posted by Skyymiles

no, there is nothing you can do really. all of the items you mentioned him posting are considered "public info" by legal definition. there are no laws to protect that kind of data on the internet. sorry. there is a very fine line between public and "personal or private" information. Now if they start posting things like images, schedules, etc. that makes is become more of an invasion of privacy case...

wow, are you kidding me ? they could post my name , address and phone number on a discussion forum and its all legal ?

somebody has to say this is wrong..

[Skyymiles]

Originally Posted by mike2010

wow, are you kidding me ? they could post my name , address and phone number on a discussion forum and its all legal ?

somebody has to say this is wrong..

absolutely public. ill have to wait for justalayman or someone to back me up on this lol.

[justalayman]

Originally Posted by mike2010

wow, are you kidding me ? they could post my name , address and phone number on a discussion forum and its all legal ?

somebody has to say this is wrong..

nope. have to agree with sky except for some very specific situations, which would not apply to you, from what I see.


btw: your name, adress, and phone number is in a phone book, isn't it? Ever had any problems with that?

[justalayman]

Originally Posted by Skyymiles

absolutely public. ill have to wait for justalayman or someone to back me up on this lol.

what, are you psychic? You posted this thread while I was typing.

[Skyymiles]

Originally Posted by justalayman

what, are you psychic? You posted this thread while I was typing.

*pink panther theme plays* lol no idea u were on haha that's funny

[quincy]

Okay, mike, I will say that it is wrong - but it is wrong only under certain circumstances and/or for certain people under certain circumstances.

I just addressed a similar issue in the Libel/Slander/Defamation section of this forum (see lilyblack's thread titled "Online Harassment"), although not in any depth.

The Supreme Court has said that people have the right to remain anonymous when writing online. A persona that is created online through a user identification may purposely be designed to block knowledge of the true identity of the poster and the information that is provided to readers may have no relationship to the creator's true identity. In fact, the persona may be in direct contradiction to the creator's true identity, so that the real world person can write freely without fear of discovery.

HOWEVER, the anonymity of a poster is only as good as the poster's efforts at keeping his true identity private. If, for instance, I tell a forum member here who Quincy is in real life, I have given up control of my private information. If the forum member chooses to reveal it online, it is MY error, not theirs.

In addition, if I do a lot of online posting using the name Quincy, others may be able to track down my true identity, perhaps through information I have inadvertantly revealed about myself - photos posted on MySpace, family or friends' names listed in Facebook. . . . the real Quincy could be easily traced by anyone with time on their hands and a desire to locate my personal information. If the information is public, or can be accessed by the public without too much effort on their part, it is no longer private information.

There are state and federal laws, and case law, that support the right for people to keep some personal information private. States can prohibit the posting of unlisted phone numbers, the addresses of domestic violence survivors, the addresses and phone numbers of public officials, and it is illegal to publicly publish others social security numbers, certain medical data, financial information.

And, finally, if you break a law under your anonymous user id name (defame someone, invade their privacy, infringe on a copyright or trademark), a court can order the website or ISP to reveal your identity. There is NO anonymity for those who break the law.

So, if one of the forum members is being an a$$, you have to ask yourself how he obtained the information about you. If YOU gave it to him, you have to ask yourself, who is the a$$.


(geez, all of you are fast posters - when I started writing this, only mike and skyymiles had posted)

[justalayman]

if anybody want to know, here is quincy:

[url]http://timstvshowcase.com/quincy6.jpg[/url]

There are state and federal laws, and case law, that support the right for people to keep some personal information private. States can prohibit the posting of unlisted phone numbers, the addresses of domestic violence survivors, the addresses and phone numbers of public officials, and it is illegal to publicly publish others social security numbers, certain medical data, financial information.

the situations I spoke of were none of these but since Quincy went to such great lengths and posted a great response, I'll complete mine:

If a person knowingly publishes the name, address, or other identifying information knowlingly that the person revealed may or will be subjected to certain criminal actions, the person revealing the information may be able to be charged with complicity in whatever crime results.

In other words, if I know that if I publish your info, there is a person that is going to go and injure or or kill you, I bear some culpability in that crime.

[quincy]

Ah, good addition!

And, by the way, while the Quincy pictured in the link you provided is one fine looking dude, you seem to forget, justalayman, that I am the Quincy who is "warm and fuzzy." Although I rarely reveal my personal identifying information online, you can go to [url]www.dailypuppy.com/dogs/quincy-the-wire-fox-terrier-200903-17[/url] to see my personal data.

(note where it says, "He has a wonderful personality and is very sociable." )

[justalayman]

hey, I always considered "that" quincy warm and fuzzy. Maybe it just seems like that because if I compare him to me, he would be considered warm and fuzzy compared to my being a complete *******.

You must have run away. I go to the link and it says "404 puppy not found".

[mike2010]

And, finally, if you break a law under your anonymous user id name (defame someone ), a court can order the website or ISP to reveal your identity.

Could you be a little more specific ? I see people calling others crazy names all the time on forums..and a lot of those posts never get deleted...and no alarm is ever sounded. It almost seems like a normal thing these days.

The internet Really does seem to be getting out of control lately.. but of course once we all start saying that... other groups will start crying / protesting about free speech...

politics is so corrupt these days...i cant even watch the news anymore.

[justalayman]

one would have to file suit and seek an order from the courts for the website to provide the name of the person attached to the screen name.

calling people crazy names is not justification for a suit and subsequent court order. The actions must be defamatory. Huge difference.

it is impossible to defame a person that is known only by their screen name.

[quincy]

Sorry about the link, justalayman. I probably jotted it down wrong. I guess I get to keep my private identity private a little while longer.

As for defamation, mike, to be defamatory words or statements must be false, made to a "third" party (someone other than the subject of the false statement), and must injure that person's reputation through negligence or actual malice. This site provides an overview of defamation law somewhere (on the Home or Law Advice Page, maybe?), or you can review some of the posts in the Libel section of the forum.

I agree that people may express themselves a little TOO freely at times. It seems easier for people to do this when they have the cloak of anonymity to protect them. Calling someone stupid to their face is certainly more difficult than calling someone stupid in a forum, when both you and the stupid person are anonymous.

Our country is really big on free speech and, as such, most "crazy speech", most insults, most hate-speech, most slurs, and most mean-spirited speech is protected by our Constitution. We support, as a country, a person's right to express their opinions, make comments about people and issues, and criticize what they want to criticize (especially the government). How they chose to do this is generally left up to them.

But, there have always been limits to free speech. For instance, if you read the Terms of Service at the bottom of the page here, you will notice that this forum prohibits false, defamatory, abusive, vulgar, and harassing messages - limits on speech that the administrators can enforce by banning a participant who violates the terms.

In addition to website Terms of Service that can control the speech of the users of the site, there are state and federal laws that limit speech. Stiff penalties can come from violating laws that prohibit a person from defaming another person or an entity, from publishing obscene and pornographic material, from infringing on another's protected work or product or service, from falsely advertising a product or service, from invading another's privacy, from threatening another, from inciting a riot. . . . . many, many, many different laws limit what can be safely said or published.

And, as a warning to you should you stick around this forum, it is never wise to ask me to be "more specific," because I am known for rambling on and on.

[mike2010]

I appreciate your responses. You guys sound like you really know your stuff. Guess I should hang around here more often to learn more of the legal stuff.

Originally Posted by justalayman

it is impossible to defame a person that is known only by their screen name.

Trying to get it down here..

So if I call someone an idiot on a forum just to their username. (joe-shmo-the-crow....or whatever) than im ok... but if I type their real name instead...then I could be in trouble ?