Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: Personal Privacy on the Internet

Is the web page hosted by AOL? If so, send 'em a letter explaining that it contains private material and it should be taken down immediately. As for making public your private IMs, she should lose her AOL privileges and you should not communicate with her any more.

You also may have a claim for invasion of privacy. Interestingly, California law prohibits the recording of a private conversation without the other party's consent. See Penal Code section 632(a) & (c) which state in part: "(a) Every person who, intentionally and without the consent of all parties to a confidential communication, by means of any electronic amplifying or recording device, eavesdrops upon or records the confidential communication, whether the communication is carried on among the parties in the presence of one another or by means of a telegraph, telephone, or other device, except a radio, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state prison, or by both that fine and imprisonment. . . . (c) The term "confidential communication" includes any communication carried on in circumstances as may reasonably indicate that any party to the communication desires it to be confined to the parties thereto, but excludes a communication made in a public gathering or in any legislative, judicial, executive or administrative proceeding open to the public, or in any other circumstance in which the parties to the communication may reasonably expect that the communication may be overheard or recorded."

"A private chat room is limited to the sender and recipient; no one else has access to their dialogue while they are in the 'instant message' mode." Cyberspace Communications, Inc. v. Engler (1999 E.D.Mich.) 55 F.Supp.2d 737, 743.

Good luck. I hope AOL comes to your aid.