Legal Question in Technology Law in California

I was recently banned from an online service for sharing the personally identifiable information of an employee of the service with other members who use the online service. It does state in the terms of use for this service that sharing personal information (on anyone) can result in being banned/removed. The information I shared was published online and publicly accessible, and in some cases the information was posted by the employee online. So my question is, are they allowed to prevent the sharing of public (but personal) information on their employees (or anyone in general) or is it in some way illegal for them to ban users for this reason?


Asked on 8/31/11, 1:34 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

It appears that you did breach the terms of your contract so they can refuse to provide any services to you. Even if information is "public", publishing it on line where many people can see can be harmful to that person. Your telephone number is probably not unlisted, so is public information, but would you like someone to write it on a bathroom wall? Providers of services can refuse service to anyone on a reasonable basis; what they did is reasonable.

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Answered on 9/01/11, 4:49 pm


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