privacy
Legal issues regarding my personal information?
<p>To keep it short, I’m an online personality and LLC. I keep my online life separate from my personal life for obvious reasons. However, I received an alarming message on my non-work account on instagram from someone stating that they know me in real life and is going to expose me. I know they’re not lying because they gave details on who they know I’m friends with. I ignored the message and have yet to respond so I don’t know what they want from me. Obviously, I’m assuming they’re trying to blackmail me because after I ignored the message they said “I guess you want to be exposed?”. </p>

<p>I don’t tell anyone what I do online and I don’t tell anyone online about my personal life. They’ve been tagging my work account under photos of my friends accounts exposing what I do online. Is there any legal issues at what this person is doing? </p>

<h2>Exposure</h2>
<p>If I discover that Bruce Wayne is Batman, I am free to disclose this information to whoever I like with no legal ramifications. Secret identities are only secret while you keep them secret.</p>
<p>There are specific exemptions to this general rule regarding undercover police or official spies - doing that <em>is</em> illegal.</p>
<p>In addition, if I learn Batman’s secret under conditions of confidence (e.g. I’m Bruce’s lawyer or we have an NDA) then if I disclose it and Bruce suffers damage I can be sued, however, I haven’t committed a crime.</p>
<h2>Extortion</h2>
<p>If I discover that Bruce is Batman and I threaten to release this information <em>unless</em> he does something for me, that’s <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extortion" rel="nofollow noreferrer">extortion</a> and is a crime in most jurisdictions. It sounds like you interlocutor is heading in that direction.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, blackmail is a very effective crime and you really have 3 options:</p>
<ol>
<li>Do what the blackmailer wants. If you are desperate to keep your secret this is your only real option. Just be aware that the demands of blackmailer’s have a tendency to grow over time.</li>
<li>Report them to the police. Who want be hugely interested because it’s not a violent or property crime and it’s relatively hard to prove. Of course, your secret will be revealed.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Joseph_Stockdale" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Publish and be damned</a> as the Duke of Wellington reportedly said to his would be blackmailer. Or, better yet, reveal your secret yourself.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Catwoman rather than Batman</h2>
<p>I’ve assumed that what you are doing online is legal. Of course, if it’s criminal then your interlocutor may have a duty to report you to the police in some jurisdictions.</p>

<p>At least in the US, there's nothing inherently illegal about camming, if you're over 18 and you are correctly declaring your income to the IRS.</p>

<p>You'll have a hard time convincing anybody that this is an invasion of your privacy; you're being very un-private on the cam. And it's not an invasion of privacy for someone to link two online accounts together through their own research.</p>

<p>That said, if are they are demanding you pay the money or do something in exchange for not revealing your identity, that can be extortion, depending on jurisdiction.</p>

<p>But, if you want to fight them in court or with law enforcement, your privacy immediately disappears, and they got what they wanted.</p>

<p>Doxxing is another matter; that typically means private information (could be bank accounts, ID numbers, etc.) released, and depending on the type of info and jurisdiction, that can be illegal. But again, that will require law enforcement or a court to enforce, and that impacts your privacy.</p>
