[Ashley87]

I was caught shoplifting at a local hardware store and was taking to the back by a lost prevention person who worked for the store. The lost prevention young man was unprofessional and completely rude which is partly understandable considering the circumstances however after he had called the police he proceeded to text message on his phone which kind of bothered me because what was so important that he had to be having a conversation about at this time. I was released by the police with a finger print and court date and left the store imeditaly. Later that day I had a number of people say they knew about the incident and had told no one about it so wondered how they found out so investigated. I later found of that the lost prevetion guy who had caught me was text messaging his friend at the time and had told him my name, information and what had happened, who had told others :( I have lost my job as a babysitter because of the rumors and hadn't even bin convicted or proven guilty and now have no job am a single mother and a rap of a thief because he decided to tell others. What are my rights in this situation...

[ScottGem]

Not sure if you have any. The Privacy Act only constrains what governments can do with info.

Yes what this Loss Prevention kid did was unethical and unprofessional, but I don't see that it was illegal. You would have to consult a lawyer to see if you have cause of action against the kid and the store.