Privacy being Compromised

Started by JanetA3 • 16 replies • 336 views

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JanetA3 (South Carolina)
Posts: 19

Posted:

I have reason to believe that a current Board member gave an email address that belongs to and is currently accessible by her husband (a non-board member). The husband/non-board member was a member of a previous board and HE used the email address that has his wife's name on it during that time. We (I was on the board during) asked him why it had his wife's name on it and he said that he set it up and it's his email address. He used it for a year and all of a sudden, now he isn't on the board and it's his wife's email address. ????

I submitted a concern/request to both the Property Manager assigned to our community and the President of the Board stating that I was greatly concerned that the board member gave an email address that was set up and is visible and accessible by her husband...a non-board member. I told them that I had great concerns that confidential homeowner and financials are being viewed by a non-board member and I would like to speak to someone about it. It's been a week, and no one will either confirm or deny. Silence.

My suspicions started when two weeks ago, I overheard the spouse of the board member talking to a neighbor and voluntarily giving information, in great detail, that was not in the minutes, nor was it released to the community via newsletter or Nextdoor. The detail the spouse gave only came from either his wife telling him these details, or by him reading the discussions himself via accessing the emails between the board. Regardless, he was giving details and information that was not his to give.

(There is a lot more detail and background around this spouse/non-board member when he served on the board which further complicates and concerns me)

So, my questions are:

1) Does the Freedom of Information Act extend to this? As a homeowner, I am greatly concerned, and I'm sure other homeowners would be too, that all of our personal matters and discussions are being viewed by a non-board member.

2) Can I file a petition via an attorney to see the email addresses that our personal information is going to?

3) What rights do I have as a homeowner with how my personal information is being handled?

Thank you for your help.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

You may want to find out how email addresses are set up before ASSUMING. I can make my name appear as anything I want on my email. It will appear to come from the name set up on the account. So maybe since they are husband and wife they share the account they are using. It also may mean and most likely just never updated the account name on the account.

Because I use a fake name and bogus email address people often think my email is spam. I have to tell people to look for an email from [email protected] with name Ho there. That is just an example...

Former HOA President

AugustinD
Posts: 1,027

Posted:

First, the husband is a gossip. This is a major sin but not a crime.

Second, state Freedom of Information (or "sunshine") laws rarely, if ever, apply to condos and HOAs.

Third, I do not understand question 2 above.

Fourth, it's darn hard to stop spouses from talking about their lives.

Fifth, if you are still on the board, I advise bringing this up at an executive session. Respectfully, super respectfully, ask that the director with the gossipy spouse tell her spouse to knock it off and also not to share confidential information with her spouse. Liability concerns arise.

Sixth, I am not sure what your concern is when you bring up HOA/COA record-viewing rights. Can you re-phrase?

JanetA3 (South Carolina)
Posts: 19

Posted:

Thank you, fair point. They won't confirm or deny the email address so I can't say for sure.

JanetA3 (South Carolina)
Posts: 19

Posted:

Thank you for your response. He IS a horrible gossip and the fact that he is privy to board emails concerns me greatly. At least when he was on the board, he was responsible and had a 'code of conduct' that he was required to follow.

My 2nd question was poorly phrased - I apologize. I was wondering what my rights are, since the Board is passing along my complaints and financial information. Don't I have a right to know who is accessing this information?

When I told the Director that I was concerned, she gave me the nonsense and standard line about "All of our board members are aware of the seriousness of confidentiality ....." Which means nothing because I HEARD the gossip sharing his 'insider' information despite the board members being aware of it.

It would have been one thing if it was the board member talking about it, it still doesn't make it right, but she had a reason to know this information. But because it was a non-board member who was sharing this information, they are not held accountable. Sigh.

I appreciate your response. Thank you.

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 462

Posted:

I will say this:

I'm on the Board and my wife is not, but my wife knows every detail about how HOA. She knows what homes are being foreclosed, she knows who is delinquent, she knows who is getting compliance letters, etc. Well, she knows everything to the extent that I tell her (she does not login and look up stuff for herself).

She is not a gossip. I have no problem with telling her what is going on. She knows how to keep her mouth shut.

JanetA3 (South Carolina)
Posts: 19

Posted:

Thank you for responding. And that is the key! I was on the board too and I know that there are discussions between spouses, but the difference is that they don't spread around what they know by gossip! Thank you for the replying!

AugustinD
Posts: 1,027

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JanetA3 on 08/22/2022 10:49 AM

My 2nd question was poorly phrased - I apologize. I was wondering what my rights are, since the Board is passing along my complaints and financial information.

I read this and went from chuckling over another thread to a very serious face. If this happened to me, I too would be pretty darn unhappy.

I hope you keep reading here. Others here of course often come up with good ideas that give the best chance of relief, with a low probability of putting a bigger target on one's back.

A single, nightly shot of single malt whiskey could be the best medicine.

JanetA3 (South Carolina)
Posts: 19

Posted:

Thank you. I used to come here all the time when I was serving on the board but got away from it when I left. There is a TON of good information and advice here. I think I am going to keep checking in frequently. I am actually finding a lot of helpful responses to other questions I have! And it's smart and well thought out responses to serious questions. Always appreciate that!

And malt whiskey! Ahhhh, that's why!!! I've been using "bourbon"! Ha!

Thank you again! : )

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MichaelT21 on 08/22/2022 10:56 AM
I will say this:

I'm on the Board and my wife is not, but my wife knows every detail about how HOA. She knows what homes are being foreclosed, she knows who is delinquent, she knows who is getting compliance letters, etc. Well, she knows everything to the extent that I tell her (she does not login and look up stuff for herself).

She is not a gossip. I have no problem with telling her what is going on. She knows how to keep her mouth shut.

She may be your wife and perhaps she does know to keep her mouth shut, but can ANY homeowner get that much information on delinquencies from the board? No? Then your wife isn't entitled to this information either, whether you're on the board or not. You never know when she might slip and spill the tea or someone's savvy enough to make her do it. Not to mention the people who may think they can persuade you to do whatever by applying pressure of some sort on your spouse. The same would apply if the roles were reversed.

It's great she doesn't log onto the board member information, but this is one area where YOU need to STHU before this comes back to bite you in the behind. Don't get too cocky and think it won't happen. Stranger things have occurred in HOA land.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Janet you are naïve if you do not think BOD members share info with their spouse. The issue is a "gossiper" not an Email address.

JanetA3 (South Carolina)
Posts: 19

Posted:

Thank you for responding to the thread. I understand that spouses will talk (what Michael wrote)...you can never really be sure that doesn't happen in their home.....but I also agree exactly with what you wrote.

The fact that he (the non-board member) was sharing this information with a third party troubles me. And, and more importantly, is that the PM and the President haven't responded to my concerns about what was shared by this person and this person having access to confidential information. That makes me extremely uneasy and angry that they don't take it serious.

Thank you for responding. Appreciate it.

JanetA3 (South Carolina)
Posts: 19

Posted:

John, thank you for responding. I know that BOD members share with their spouse - my concern is that non-board member is accessing and repeating private information. I heard him repeating information that was not made public in any of the three forums that information was released to our community. He gave detailed information as to how the board came to their decision. He is the one sharing the information - he is a non-board member. That is wrong. And that is why I want to know what my rights are to pursue this breech of confidentiality.

Thank you for responding. This has been informative.

DavidG45 (Delaware)
Posts: 994

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JanetA3 on 08/22/2022 10:01 AM
I have reason to believe that a current Board member gave an email address that belongs to and is currently accessible by her husband (a non-board member). The husband/non-board member was a member of a previous board and HE used the email address that has his wife's name on it during that time. We (I was on the board during) asked him why it had his wife's name on it and he said that he set it up and it's his email address. He used it for a year and all of a sudden, now he isn't on the board and it's his wife's email address. ????

I submitted a concern/request to both the Property Manager assigned to our community and the President of the Board stating that I was greatly concerned that the board member gave an email address that was set up and is visible and accessible by her husband...a non-board member. I told them that I had great concerns that confidential homeowner and financials are being viewed by a non-board member and I would like to speak to someone about it. It's been a week, and no one will either confirm or deny. Silence.

My suspicions started when two weeks ago, I overheard the spouse of the board member talking to a neighbor and voluntarily giving information, in great detail, that was not in the minutes, nor was it released to the community via newsletter or Nextdoor. The detail the spouse gave only came from either his wife telling him these details, or by him reading the discussions himself via accessing the emails between the board. Regardless, he was giving details and information that was not his to give.

(There is a lot more detail and background around this spouse/non-board member when he served on the board which further complicates and concerns me)

So, my questions are:

1) Does the Freedom of Information Act extend to this? As a homeowner, I am greatly concerned, and I'm sure other homeowners would be too, that all of our personal matters and discussions are being viewed by a non-board member.

2) Can I file a petition via an attorney to see the email addresses that our personal information is going to?

3) What rights do I have as a homeowner with how my personal information is being handled?

Thank you for your help.

My two cents on a few things:

Email Address
It is a good idea for board members to have a separate email address for board business. This can easily be done using gmail or any other common mail service. For instance, we all use [email protected] where "xxx" is our HOA's abbreviation.

Privacy via Email
That said, lots of husbands and wives know each others' passwords, share email accounts, etc. So regardless of who you send your email to, there is a reasonable chance that the spouse will be able to read those emails. So the above method is really more about keeping all board correspondence in a single place for each board member, not ensuring that spouses won't see it.

Spouses and Gossiping
I agree with those who thing it is unreasonable to think that every board member is going to keep all private issues away from their spouses. Email or not, my wife knows a whole lot of stuff that others done - 90% of which others would have access to if they made an open records request. The issue is gossiping - which could just as easily be a board member problem as a spouse problem. As suggested earlier, the most effective thing you can do is probably very politely mention this and hope things improve.

Your Rights
As with anything else in the HOA world, your rights are whatever you are willing to lawyer-up and grab. However, I don't see how you can demonstrate damages for any private information that does not pertain to you personally.

JanetA3 (South Carolina)
Posts: 19

Posted:

Thank you David for responding and laying out your replies that way....very easy to read and understand! Thank you.

I know that I have to just give it time, this man is a notorious gossip, backstabber and partakes in too many beers. Any one of these three will land him in trouble.....all three, will get him there faster! Ha! At some point, and unfortunately, something much worse is going to be 'leaked". Thank you again for your responses.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

The fix is to have board controlled emails.

It's not that costly to set up a service that the board administrates.
This way, they can change the password at each election or appointment and the new individual can then change it to what they want.

JanetA3 (South Carolina)
Posts: 19

Posted:

Interesting. Thanks Tim. Will research this further.

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