Legal Question in Business Law in California

We need legal council in California moving forward but my initial question is whether your privacy laws would allow me to publish Government employee details ( name and email ) for commercial gain - I run several companies in UK and Australia and we produce communications directories for areas of Government - Directories designed to better enable Government buyers to communicate with one another to assist them to share best practice - we produce the directories free of charge for Government by selling advertising space to companies that want to develop their Government accounts - In other territories where we operate, this information is considered 'within the public domain' as these employees are spending tax payers money and are therefore accountable, is this the case in California - Thanks


Asked on 2/15/17, 10:47 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Charles Perry Law Offices of Charles R. Perry

I have not researched the question, but it seems highly unlikely that the publication of a government employee's name, position, and official contact information in the government would violate privacy laws. All of that should be public information, accessible either through the Internet on government websites, or through the California open records laws. There is also no restriction in the public records act that would prohibit the commercial use of the information obtained

The answer of course is different for private information about the individuals involved.

You should also not treat this answer as a formal legal opinion on which you can rely, but simply as a general statement of California law. The precise answer to your question will depend on how you gain the information and what information you intend to publish, among other things. You will need to consult with the attorney you hire in more detail to obtain a legal opinion upon which you can rely.

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Answered on 2/16/17, 3:40 am

Having worked in California government, I can assure you that our privacy laws provide pretty much zero protection to government employees as far as their government job contact information, and in some cases even less. As a Senior Deputy City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco, not only was all my contact information at work public record, I had to file an annual statement of economic interests and income sources, which was also public record. Public entities do try to make it a bit difficult to find direct phone numbers, etc., for simple management reasons. The business of government becomes harder to do if anyone with a question or a complaint can just make any phone in the office ring. Things work better if they make the public go through main lines and switchboards, but the information is usually available with some digging and is not private.

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Answered on 2/16/17, 7:55 am


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