Begin forwarded message: From: Gary Fresen <gfresen@xxxxxxx> Date: September 4, 2004 9:50:05 PM EDT To: dave@xxxxxxxxxxSubject: Privacy - Illinois court holds that your Social Security Number is not private information
Dear Dave, An Illinois Appellate court held that a sharing a social security number is not an invasion of privacy. Busse v. Motorola, Inc., 2004 Ill. App. LEXIS 738 (1st Dist. June 22, 2004) Here is the LEXIS summary of the case. I attach the complete case. CASE SUMMARY PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Appellant cell phone users sued appellee cell phone service providers in the Circuit Court of Cook County (Illinois), for invasion of privacy by intrusion upon seclusion and breach of contract. The trial court granted the service providers' motion for summary judgment. The cell phone users appealed. OVERVIEW: The service providers retrieved data from their customer records, including names, addresses, and social security numbers, and transferred the information as a database to a private research firm for its studies on cell phone safety. The research firm placed the customer information in a database, compared it to public death records, and compared cell phone use with mortality and specific causes of death. In a patterns-of-use survey, the research firm mailed a questionnaire to the cell phone users. Results of both studies were published, but cell phone users were not identified. On appeal, the court found that the service providers were entitled to judgment on the breach of contract claim under the uses permitted in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C.S. § 222. Further, there was no cause of action for invasion of privacy. None of the personal information furnished - names, telephone numbers, addresses, or social security numbers - were held to have been private facts. Therefore, the cell phone users failed to establish the information obtained was private. Nor were the individual pieces of information facially revealing, compromising, or embarrassing. OUTCOME: The judgment was affirmed. Regards, Gary -- Gary W. Fresen email: gfresen@xxxxxxx ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
Attachment:
social_security_and_privacy.doc
Description: MS-Word document