Private facts

Business executives under investigation or being questioned about price fixing practices -- but not yet charged -- will no longer be publicly named in corporate plea agreement documents submitted to courts by the Department of Justice.

The new policy will also completely exclude from plea agreements the names of employees who are not cooperating with the price-fixing or bid-rigging investigation, as well as those who can’t be tracked down or are still being investigated. If they are charged, their names will be made public.

A Montana judge Wednesday approved the release of portions of a presentence investigation report in a criminal case stemming from a 2009 boat crash involving two federal legislators.

The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday affirmed a lower court’s decision denying The Cincinnati Enquirer access to personally identifying information regarding police officers involved in a shootout with a motorcycle gang. Citing the officers' constitutional right of privacy, the court found those portions of requested records identifying particular officers were exempt from disclosure under the state public records law.

A new law in Maine restricts access to the birth, death and marriage records of state citizens, The Associated Press reported.

Gov. John Baldacci signed the law on April 2. Now, only the person on the document, their spouse, parents, descendants or designated agents have access to such records. Genealogists and researchers will also be granted access if they have a researcher identification card.

Posting private information about someone on the Internet is enough to allow an invasion-of-privacy claim no matter how many people actually see it, the Minnesota Court of Appeals held this week. 

In the published opinion, the court created a broad rule "that the publicity element of an invasion-of-privacy claim is satisfied when private information is posted on a publicly accessible Internet website."