Legal Question about disclosing HIV status?

I live in California, and I have a question for a friend. Recently, my friends ex boyfriend disclosed my friends HIV status on MySpace, saying their first and last name as well as harassing comments. In California and Federal, is it illegal for someone to disclose someone HIV status without that person's permission? If so, what is the penalties?

Usually it's illegal if a hospital or some type of medical institution does it. What your friends ex boyfriend did was extremely cruel, but unfortunately not illegal.

It is not illegal, but it is a tort
Public disclosure of private facts

talk to an attorney

The response which refers to me is wrong...
Truth is only a defense to the tort of PDPF...Publishing a private fact is only defensible when it is newsworthy. Telling others is different, what the person in question did was publish this fact on the internet for public consumption therefore a different standard applies.

It depends on how he found out about it.

If he found out through his employment in the health care business, it's a violation of HIPAA, and illegal. If she told him, then he's allowed to pass it on.

The first answer is wrong. There is no tort in saying something true about someone. "She is HIV+" would give rise to a tort claim only if untrue.

Richard