[cobalt-users] Off topic: Legal question concerning suspended hosting accounts

["Steven Werby" <steven-lists@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My question isn't Cobalt related, but it is web hosting related so there are a
lot of list members who have the experience to answer my question.  I recently
suspended the account of a web hosting client who was delinquent on two payments
and had been promising payment, but had not delivered.  I took his site offline
and redirected all web requests to a page with the following message: "site.tld
has been suspended due to non-payment."  36 hours later the client called to
tell me he was sending a check via FedEx.  He also claimed that he had talked to
his lawyer and his lawyer said that my posting of a statement like that was
illegal b/c (in his words) "You can't disclose a client's financial status
publicly.  It's illegal."  I have since modified the statement to appease the
client.  My goal was to get the client's attention so I was successful.  But,
was the message I posted illegal?  I suppose I could have said "site.tld has
been suspended due to violation of company policies".  Or is that illegal too?

Steven Werby {steven-lists@xxxxxxxxxxxx}