Hi,

I was thinking to put people business contact information in my site with their email, phone, address(like list of doctors, lawyers, accounts, ...) in my site. I will collect those information from different news papers. Am i allowed to put those information in my site or i have to get approval from each individual ??

Pls advise.

Thanks.

I would believe you would need their approval. I wouldn't like to search for my name in a search engine and respond back with my address and phone numbers lol. It is personal information to some degree and some people like to protect it.

commented: Great help in daniweb +9

I disagree. If the information is already in the public domain, e.g. in the Yellow Pages, then they have already consented to it being published.

If you're talking about publishing someone's private information, then I would agree that approval is required first. If I were in doubt, I would assume the latter.

True but depending on the type of site the OP is making, they might not want their information related to the site. Some users may think they are somewhat involved etc. Either way, you won't know until someone emails you and says WTF lol

Yes, you may be correct. If your site is the same nature as the other website, then I wouldn't think it was a problem. If it was a site of questionable nature, then I would agree with you.

Also, do not forget, a lot of businesses sell your personal information, as you give your permission for them to do so by agreeing to their terms and conditions. The OP could always therefore buy the information, then it would be entirely legal.

We send email to the email contact address

echo 'Your contact details have been added to the display page for '.$local['town']
.' the contact details look like this'.$local['contact']
.' the page can be reviewed at <a href="mysite.com/'.$local['town'].'/">'.$local['town'].'</a>'
.' please contact us if you wish your details removed';

we have only yet had spelling corrections requested
many small businesses like the extra presence

Thank you all for feedback. Say I found a doctor/lawyer/accountants/travel agents who placed his bussiness ad in local newspaper. In the ad, has his business email/address/phone/specialty. I want 2 take all the info and put in my site. someone told me if i copy their info and put it into my site, those business owners may sue me for publishing his business contact into my site. it is hard for me to take approval from every person since there are many.

i spent lot of time copying all. :)i am not sure whether i should publish or not??? If i really publish, worse case what will they do? File a case againist me or send me an email to delete their info?
or I should discard all my work? :)

Thx.

@bangla

What will be the purpose of your site? Perhaps to create an online directory of services in your area for quick access to anyone needing those services? Nothing wrong with that, but you have to let each one know they are included in your directory, as suggested by almostbob.

Worst that can happen you ask? They may ask you to remove them from your site, no big deal.

Hi,

I was thinking to put people business contact information in my site with their email, phone, address(like list of doctors, lawyers, accounts, ...) in my site. I will collect those information from different news papers. Am i allowed to put those information in my site or i have to get approval from each individual ??

Pls advise.

Thanks.

It depends on:
1. How you collect Information (and if you told them during collection of exposing their info)
2. What will you display and security of your web and who will see, of course
3. Cyber laws of your country and privacy laws (we aren't global government yet :))

Hi,

I was thinking to put people business contact information in my site with their email, phone, address(like list of doctors, lawyers, accounts, ...) in my site. I will collect those information from different news papers. Am i allowed to put those information in my site or i have to get approval from each individual ??

Pls advise.

Thanks.

I would like to share some important things that, there are two kinds of legal liability: civil liability and criminal liability. Civil liability may lead to injunctions and damages payments; criminal liability could mean a fine and a criminal record, and possibly worse. Unfortunately, websites can create both kinds of liability. Issues of civil liability are more prevalent, although not necessarily less serious. For example, you need to be careful about copying text, images and other material from third parties - if you don't, you could find yourself on the wrong end of a copyright infringement lawsuit. You should also check that your domain name and other branding doesn't infringe another person's trade mark rights.

Business contact information, for lawyers, doctors, etc A) Are already plastered across the internet. B) Are public domain (when you register the business with the government) C) It is required for new businesses to publish a fictitious name statement with business name, address, and most of the time people also publish their phone number. There is no reason why you can not publish these types of information because they are factual. IF on the other hand, you are using this information to talk junk about individuals or businesses then they could sue you for slander, but you have every right to publish contact information of businesses.

From Wikipedia: "Works are in the public domain if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all, if the intellectual property rights have expired,[1] or if the intellectual property rights are forfeited."

And I can assure you that no business name or contact information has been copyright.

Like the other guys say, unless your site is of questionable content you should have no problem. And if someone does not want their info on your site then they will contact you. Otherwise, the internet is your peanut.

You are al great and helpful. I am glad I posted this question. I learned a lot. I have a free time.so I just want to make a online yellow page for the business owners so they can get more business. and only way i collect this info when they place their ad in newspaper.

I thought some business owner may not like it to be in the web bc he may get some stupid calls from my ad. he may tell me to remove it. and/or he may file lawsuite against me and i go to jail or pay big fine. this is a non profit site. i cant afford for all these. :)

I really want to do that bc it will be helpful for many ppl who have no access to newspaper and they can get it from my site. i am still not sure whether i should proceed bc america has lot of difficult laws. Also, some business owner may be jerk. he just want to create problem and we cant speak for them. as long as if i get a request to remove it then i am ok but if they bring me to court, then its a nightmare.

if you have any update, you can share with me.

Thx.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.