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Interesting Privacy Decision in New Hampshire

Posted by michael on from the one-small-step-for-privacy dept.

TCPALaw writes "A huge decision in privacy law was handed down today by the NH Supreme Court in the Amy Boyer case. Amy was stalked and killed by a man who got her personal information, including SSN, from an on-line information broker. Privacy groups such as EPIC have argued that access to sensitive personal information should carry with it liability for misuse, and can constitute a tort. The NH Supreme Court agreed. Now perhaps you can sue the spyware companies."

1 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. Accessory to a crime? by stevel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I live in the city where Amy Boyer was murdered, and my wife knows Amy's mother. We've (my wife and I) have talked about this case a lot, especially every time the Remsburgs appeared in a new newspaper article about their fight against the "information" companies.

    As horrible as this crime was, it's not clear to either of us that if Liam Youens hadn't been able to buy the information on where Amy worked that she would be alive today. Youens knew where Amy lived, and he had been obsessed with her for years. It was just a matter of time.

    I think what Docusearch did was slimy, and possibly illegal - especially the use of "social engineering" to trick Helen Remsburg into revealing information about her daughter.

    The issue at hand is whether or not Docusearch, and similar companies, have an obligation to warn people when their personal info is sold to someone, especially when the purpose is unknown. I think it's well established that this sort of information is often used for heinous purposes - remember the case of actress Rebecca Schaffer, who was murdered by someone who bought her address from the California DMV!

    In my opinion, the NH Supreme Court got this one right - Docusearch knows or should know that the primary use of the information they collect is NOT for the benefit of the subjects. They should have an obligation to inform the subject that the information has been collected and sold.

    However, I think it is wrong to assign the blame for Amy's death on Docusearch. They were an "accessory to a crime", but did not commit the crime itself.

    There are so many "what ifs" in cases such as this, that can have people tied up in knots for years. Youens had a web page up which gave fairly solid clues that he had it in for Amy Boyer. Did anyone in a position to do anything see this beforehand? Probably not...

    As for spyware ("spywear"? Is that the watch with a poison dart?), I don't see an obvious connection with this case.