Review of Life Coaches - What can I list?

[guest99]

I have a website that reviews and lists various "life coaches" (guys like Tony Robbins). Some of the coaches create profiles on my site and of course I list them, but I would like to create profiles of other coaches that haven't registered. I'm wondering if there are restrictions on who I can list without getting permission.

Suppose I just use public information like their name, their fee, and link to their website. I assume that would be fine? What if they were to specifically say they didn't want to be listed? I would probably take down the listing because I'm a reasonable person, but would I be obligated to?

What if the information is not easily obtainable? Suppose for example there is a member's only website that has its own private life coaches. Would that make a difference?

Finally, is there a difference if I personally list coaches or if I let members of my website submit reviews on their own?

Thanks a lot for any advice.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

From my knowledge, I don't think there is anything limiting you from listing their name and writing a biography in your own words. Linking to another web site is what most of these people want (and I've never seen a link, especially of such nature, to be deemed illegal or cause civil liability.) I'm not sure what benefit it provides you to have those free links but that's not usually an issue. If they have a problem they will write to you, which I doubt will happen given the free press.