[Answered] Ok to release someone's IP address ?

[mikeinjersey]

some dude PM'd me on our forums today....and said he's doing an investigation on this user that ripped him off ..he noticed the same user registered on our forums, and wants to know if I could release some info on him.

Am I allowed to to release the user's email addy and IP to him...or is this not allowed?

I don't think I would anyway...but generally speaking, legal wise. is it ok to release info like this on other users ?

The guy asking for it, didn't say he's a cop or anything either.

I don't feel like posting around on legal forums either...but generally speaking, watcha think ?

[Dustin L.]

I don't believe this is legal.

[AusPhotography]

I would not without a court order!

Here in .au there is privacy laws that would prevent us doing that.
I'm sure other jurisdictions have similar rules; the EU would probably jail you for 100 years or something draconian like that
FYI: Our privacy page.

Kym

[Andy]

Ignore the email and don't engage in any conversation with this person.

[TheLastSuperman]

I would not, privacy is the main thing here, listen to everyone who posted above me .

[Dustin L.]

Yeah, definitely don't do this without a court-order.

[mikeinjersey]

Yeah, definitely don't do this without a court-order.

wow, didn't know this was so serious.

Should I remove IP viewing abilities from our Moderators then ? They've had IP viewing abilities for years..and i've never had an issue.

But now that this issue came up....there's noway I could guarantee that one of the moderators would send that fella the info he needs.

ya know ?

[Andy]

Should I remove IP viewing abilities from our Moderators then ?

Yes. There are a lot of wacky people out there. Better safe than sorry.

[TheLastSuperman]

wow, didn't know this was so serious.

Should I remove IP viewing abilities from our Moderators then ? They've had IP viewing abilities for years..and i've never had an issue.

But now that this issue came up....there's noway I could guarantee that one of the moderators would send that fella the info he needs.

ya know ?

Well no, they could be on at a point in time and need to notate different IP's from a user if you suspect it's the same user being sneaky or well a number of different reasons. Long story short, unless you get into illegal issues and have some form of law enforcement contact you then you should not disclose a members IP address. I'm not a lawyer but your forum is like Vegas including your members privacy and we all know "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" do we not? *I would inform your staff of what is going on so they are aware and well prepared.

Anytime someone asks for such, tell them if it's that serious to have law enforcement take the appropriate actions and you'll be more than happy to follow the law and disclose if requested via a court-order plain and simple. Do not become tangled in disputes such as this, your priority is your site not their issue .

[beishe8]

your priority is your site not their issue .

Wise advice.

[mikeinjersey]

Could I get advice on removing IP Viewing abilities for all Moderators and Super Moderators ?

I don't believe just disabling it in Usergroup Permissions is enough. (where it says "Can View IP Addresses" )

Because if I tick "No" there...can't they still look up IP's in /modcp/ ?

[TheLastSuperman]

Could I get advice on removing IP Viewing abilities for all Moderators and Super Moderators ?

I don't believe just disabling it in Usergroup Permissions is enough. (where it says "Can View IP Addresses" )

Because if I tick "No" there...can't they still look up IP's in /modcp/ ?

Yes they can, to remove that you'll need to do some custom coding or file edits, in fact if I remember correctly there is a modification on www.vbulletin.org that removes that from the modcp but I'm not 100% sure you'll need to search for it over there.

[mikeinjersey]

would be great if this was part of the VB core product eventually.. because of these types of legal circumstances.

With the new additions of spam-blocking plugins, (Spam-O-Matic etc) the moderators needs to cross-reference IP's has diminished over the years....and the Admin can handle the few occasions that this still occurs.