Website Privacy Policy Clause Not Sufficient to Reveal Bloggers Identity
January 15th, 2010 by adminA comment posted under an online news article online by an anonymous user who did not waive his rights of anonymity cannot have his identity revealed according to a US District Court.
The websites privacy policy contained a clause stating that all information provided by the user could be disclosed to third parties but the US Court declared that this was not justification for revealing the users personal identity.
The website provider had argued that the user had agreed to the terms of the website privacy policy which stated that information provided by the user may be used for commercial purposes.
Both the Supreme Court and US District Court consistently upheld that the choice to remain anonymous was an extension to freedom of speech and to compel an individual to disclose their identity would be to undermine the principle of freedom of speech contained within the US Constitution.
The website’s privacy policy did not mention that a user would waive their constitutional right to anonymous free speech and so the user could not have been aware of the website provider’s intention to exclude this right.
Website privacy policies are of fundamental importance to the security and overall integrity of an individual’s personal data and information. All website providers must ensure their privacy policy reflects their intentions explicitly toward user of their website.
