Articles on Privacy Law
Is it a Violation of My Rights to Share Personal Information Without My Consent?
While being stopped for a suspending license, the police officer yelled what was happening into my phone as I was leaving my boss a message. Is that legal? I’ve applied for an apartment but am being told that before I can sign the lease, the apartment manager is going to have my current residence inspected for pests. Is this legal? Due to the freedom of information act, do I, or the rest of the general population have a right to all the names of all the IRS agents that enforce the tax laws against us poor morons or are they protected under some ambiguous bunch of crap to make sure we don’t harass them on a daily basis? I own a retail store and want to start a discount/loyalty program. Can I use a customer’s driver’s license as the discount card that I scan with my cash register each time they purchase? I gave my PC to a repair shop. On it, he thought he saw child porn (He was wrong) so he took it to police office. Did he stay in legal bounds? I didn’t give permission. For four days I did volunteer work for someone who owns over 100 exotic cats. I found the conditions deplorable and contacted an organization they belong to. Can these people sue me for describing the conditions of their place to the founder/president of the organization they belong to (an organization for cat breeders)? This person was intoxicated and was saying things that would never be said normally. Now this tape might be shown to the D.A. to get this person into trouble. We have a neighbor who is hell bent on reporting any tiny violation of HOA covenants to the HOA, and takes pictures to email them. The pictures they have taken include the basement bedroom window of our roommate, who is not happy about pics being taken. Somehow I feel like this is an invasion of privacy, but don’t know what to do. Can a third-party creditor ask my employer for my social security number? May a third party debt creditor ask my employer for my social security number? Is it legal for conversations with patients to be recorded, by an audio recording device, if the patient is unaware that they are being recorded? Recently the US Congress passed a new bill, the bill was called the “H.R. 4472: Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006″. Many people online have been having a hard time understanding what this law actully prohibits and need to know the facts. Does this law in fact make the online fetish known as “Lolikon” (or “Lolicon”) illegal or not in the USA? “ Does a police officer have the right to ask for your social security number when giving you a ticket? I have never heard of such a thing and several family and friends that I have asked what they thought, they have never heard of it either. What recourse do I have? I was involved in a children’s music production as a music teacher at a private school. Now, years later, all the children are adults, and I’d like to show some clips of the children’s production on my website. My supervisor called me into her office and stated that she was concerned that I could not perform my duties while taking my medications as prescribed. It finally came to the point where I felt that I had to give her a list of my meds or be terminated. I feel like I was put in a very tough position. Turn over the information or be terminated. Is it against the law to refuse to give a police officer your age when they ask for it? Privacy laws often will give redress for breaches of privacy, but they don’t always provide protection from the actions which lead to the privacy breach in the first place. Is it right or against the law for a school nurse to call a student’s home and ask why they did not come to school that day? Whether a parent has access to a child’s health information, and at what age that changes, will depend in large part on the laws of the state. After a nightmare wedding reception, the wedding banquet hall gave out the bride’s private cell phone number and her unlisted number to a third party. Does she have any recourse? Answering machine messages left on an answering machine may be admissible in court; laws vary from state to state. Generally speaking, there’s no legal requirement that you show your ID to a private party who asks for it, but is also no law that guarantees you entrance to private property if you don’t honor an ID request. This can be a problem for employees making deliveries on behalf of their employers. What are the privacy laws regarding communication between a health care facility and a patient’s family? Under privacy laws, may one family member, with power of attorney, require a health care facility to keep medical information away from other family members? Credit reports sent to the wrong address can be a problem. What can someone do when their credit report is sent by the credit reporting agency to the wrong address, potentially exposing them to identity theft? Invasion of privacy laws require that before selling a photograph or video of someone, an amateur photographer (as well as a professional photographer) must have the permission of their subject.
