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NEW YORK, June 1, 2000 -- Think your AOL account information is private? Think again. AOL routinely turns over confidential member information to anyone who gets a subpoena, as a couple of New York City paramedics learned the hard way.
New York 1 reported that America On-Line turned
over the identities of two Emergency Medical Service
workers after being subpoenaed by the Fire
Department.
The Fire Department says it's conducting a criminal investigation but the E.M.S. union says the agency is conducting a witch hunt, trying to track down E.M.S. workers who've been critical of the agency in AOL chat rooms.
The fire department says it's looking for workers who may have been
involved in blocking radio transmissions or selling
confidential information.
Pat Bahnken, Local 2507 President accuses the department of trying "to discourage our members from
speaking out against what they see as the wholesale
privatization of the New York City Fire Department and
E.M.S"
AOL's terms of service say the company will turn over
specific records if it is "to comply with legal process
such as a search warrant or court order."
The subpoena is the only one of the three that doesn't
require the signature of a judge. Many legal experts
say the loop hole could catch some members off
guard.
New York 1 quoted NYU Law Professor Burt Neuborne as saying, "subpoenas
get issued with very little formality. Lawyers can get
them issued liked slicing bread. And if a company like
AOL is saying everytime they get issued a subpoena,
they are going to turn the information over, unless you
spend thousands of dollars to fight the subpoena, they
are really giving folks no protection at all."
The Fire Department spokesman says the subpoena
was an administrative one signed by an investigator,
not signed by a judge.
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