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Ask HN: Is identity theft legal if the intermediary is a journalist?
In light of The NY Times publishing President Trumps tax returns[1] which they claim to have received from people who were in legal possession of them, I’m wondering how this does not qualify as identity theft?
Surely being a famous or a notable political figure does not shatter all expectations of privacy.
If a rogue employee at a hospital emails your medical records to a newspaper can they publish it?
What about notes from a conversation with your lawyer?
[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html
- detaro 6y agoIdentity theft is using personal data to pretend to be the victim, so not relevant here. What information is legal to handle is complicated, but my understanding is that in the US mostly the leaker is in trouble, whereas journalists can use obtained documents quite freely.
- ksaj 6y agoThis is correct. Identity theft is a completely different thing. On what I think OP meant: watch the case with Julien Assange. The current understanding of the law might change in the very near future, depending I guess on if they can determine conceptual legal differences between Wikileak's disclosure and Cryptome's disclosure of the same material. One is being treated mercilessly and the other isn't getting more than a glance from the same authorities, and is presenting as a witness in the Wikileak's case.