This weeks question comes from Sheila P. in San Francisco who asks, “Amy, my best girlfriend, just confided in me that she and her therapist had sex. She went to see this therapist because of sexual trauma she suffered as a child. She’s really freaked out and confused. On one hand she doesn’t want to get the therapist in trouble but on the other hand she feels like she’s being taken advantage of. I can see that it’s tearing her apart. Isn’t this illegal? What can be done about it?”
This week’s question comes from Joel F. in Berkeley who asks: “I read your article last week on Apple’s objection to the FBI demanding that they build a back door to the IPhone operating system to bypass the encryption on the phone of the San Bernardino shooter. What rights do I have over my IPhone if a cop demands that I unlock my phone and show it to him?”
Joel, your question is very timely and shows how the interpretation of our constitutional rights to privacy must constantly evolve to keep up with technology.
This week’s question comes from Angie W. in San Francisco. She asks, “I have been reading about Apple’s decision to object to, and refuse to comply with, an FBI request to crack the iPhone which was linked to a shooter in the San Bernardino massacre. How would this affect my privacy as an iPhone owner/user?”
Angie, this question is one which deals with an individual’s rights to privacy.
Today’s question comes from Jerry K. of the Castro who asks: “Since the Charlie Sheen case has broken the issue of legal responsibility for transmitting a STD like HIV has been on my mind. My former partner gave me herpes. I asked him his status and he said he was “negative and clean” so we stopped using condoms. He never told me and when I found out and confronted him he said that he thought that he was no longer capable of transmitting the disease because he would take medicine when he felt an outbreak coming on. My doctor says this is BS and that the medicine only shortens the length of the outbreak and does not reduce transmission risk. We broke up when I found out a year ago. I’m really pissed as now I am infected for life and I tell anyone with whom I am intimate so they never wind up in the same situation. What is the law on this? Do I have a case? He works for one of the big tech companies and has lots of valuable stock.”
Today’s question comes from Nikki F. Who asks: “My former boyfriend and I were together for a long time. His job required a lot of travel.
When he was away we would talk a lot on the phone and engage in what people call “sexting” – we would send selfies back and forth of us in the nude and while engaged in self stimulation. He also recorded video of us being intimate on his cell phone so he could “watch it on the road.” I always told him that he couldn’t show it to anyone else and thought that this was just between us. After a series of infidelities I broke up with him and told him what I thought of him. Recently I have discovered that he posted some of those pictures on websites designed to humiliate people. He told some of his friends to check out the pictures and that’s how I heard about it. I feel violated completely exposed and humiliated What if anything can I do?”