June 12, 1998

Navy and America Online Settle Case on Gay Privacy

By PHILIP SHENON

ASHINGTON -- In a victory for gay rights, with implications for the millions of people who use computer online services, both the Navy and America Online have reached settlements with a highly decorated sailor who was investigated by the Navy after he posted a message in which he described himself as "gay."

Credit: Associated Press Timothy R. McVeigh will retire from the Navy with full benefits as a result of a gay-rights victory.

Under the Navy agreement, the 36-year-old sailor, Master Chief Petty Officer Timothy R. McVeigh, will retire from the military with full benefits and with tens of thousands of dollars to pay his legal fees.

The Navy had originally sought to discharge McVeigh without any benefits, despite 18 years of unblemished service, after he posted a note on the online service in which he identified himself as "Tim," whose marital status was "gay" and whose e-mail address was "Boysrch."

The Navy's settlement with McVeigh, who is no relation to the man convicted of bombing the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, is expected to be announced on Friday.

In a separate settlement, America Online, the nation's largest online computer service, with 12 million users, has apologized to McVeigh for violating his privacy and has agreed to pay him damages. The company acknowledged that it had confirmed to a Navy investigator that McVeigh was "Tim."

Under the settlement, both sides agreed not to reveal the amount of money paid to McVeigh by America Online. As a result of the case, the company has also announced new policies intended to guarantee the privacy of its users. The policies will require that all of the company's nearly 5,000 customer-service representatives be provided with special "scenario training" to insure that they do not give out private information about users without the user's consent or without a court order. The company has also rewritten its privacy policy to make it far clearer, and has made the new policy available on line to all users.

"I'm happy that this case has been resolved on my terms," McVeigh said in a telephone interview today from his home in Honolulu. "I think that all sailors can take comfort from this. I hope it sends a message that the rules and regulations that are in place need to be followed by the military."

The Navy said it would withhold comment on the settlement until the terms were made public.

McVeigh, who normally would not have been eligible for retirement for another two years, said he felt some sadness in leaving the Navy. "It's a job that I've been doing for 18 years, that I'm good at, that I like, but I'm ready to move on to bigger and better things," he said. "I think this opens a much broader opportunity for me."

McVeigh's lawyer, Christopher Wolf of Washington, said the settlement with the Navy was a very significant victory.

"It shows what we alleged at the outset, that McVeigh's electronic privacy rights and his rights under the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy were seriously violated by the Navy," Wolf said. "It is the first time, as far as I'm aware, that the Navy has let stand a court decision that it has broken the law in this area. Obviously it has a precedent that can be relied on in the future."

Last January, Judge Stanley Sporkin of Federal District Court in Washington ordered the Navy to halt its efforts to dismiss McVeigh and ruled that the Navy's investigation into his sexual orientation was a clear violation of the military's five-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The policy was intended to allow gay service members to remain in the military so long as they were discreet about their private lives.

Related Articles Sailor Says Navy Is Using AOL Profile to Oust Him (January 9, 1998) Sailor's Case Becomes Privacy and Rights Cause (January 14, 1998) Navy Case Likely to Clarify Loopholes in Privacy Law (February 5, 1998)

Judge Sporkin also appeared to side with lawyers who suggested that the Navy and America Online had violated a 1986 Federal law that bars computer service companies from releasing confidential information about customers without the person's permission or a court order.

Wolf said that under the settlement with the Navy, the Defense Department would not appeal the judge's ruling.

The case dates to September, when McVeigh sent an e-mail message to the wife of a fellow crewman aboard the nuclear-powered submarine Chicago about a Christmas toy drive for the crew's children.

Navy officials said the woman was disturbed by the return address on his e-mail -- "Boysrch," which apparently referred to "boy search" -- and she consulted the customer profile listed under the return address on America Online. The profile identified the user as Tim of Honolulu, whose hobbies included "collecting pictures of other young studs."

The information was passed on to a Navy investigator, who contacted America Online. Without identifying his ties to the Navy, the investigator asked for the full name of Tim.

America Online acknowledged this year that a customer-service representative had violated the company's in-house rules and confirmed to the investigator that Tim was Master Chief Petty Officer McVeigh.

In interviews, McVeigh, who was described in recent performance evaluations as "an outstanding role model" and "the embodiment of Navy core values," has declined to discuss his sexual orientation, saying it was irrelevant to a case that should be focused instead on the possibility of misconduct by the Navy.

A spokeswoman for America Online, Tricia Primrose, said the settlement between the company and McVeigh was reached several months ago but was not announced at the time. "In our review of the situation, we recognized that we had made a mistake as a result of human error, and that we absolutely regretted it," Ms. Primrose said. "We've taken responsibility for this action and satisfactorally resolved it with McVeigh."

As a result of the case, she said, America Online will require all of its customer-service representatives to undergo "scenario training, in which we give them examples of the ways in which they could be misled" into turning over confidential information to unauthorized callers.

The representatives, she said, will also be required to read and sign a copy of the company's privacy policy every six months, with the understanding that violations of the policy "will be sanctioned all the way up to and including termination."

She said the company had also recently rewritten its privacy policy to make it clearer, and had made it available on line.

"We wanted to make this easier to read, written in plain English," she said.

"It was a big overhaul to make this document understandable to us mere mortals."

The policy opens with a statement that America Online is "committed to protecting your personal privacy" and that "we understand that for you to take full advantage of the benefits of this interactive medium, we must do everything we can to insure that your privacy is secure."

Home | Sections | Contents | Search | Forums | Help Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company