Can the Attorney General be found to have breached section 47 of the California Civil Code by publishing confidential information which is not privileged?

[30 Cal.3d 793] As this court acknowledged in White v. Davis (1975) 13 Cal.3d 757, 775, 120 Cal.Rptr. 94, 533 P.2d 222, the right of privacy amendment to the state Constitution was addressed, in part, to the unlawful dissemination and misuse of an individual's governmental records. Therefore, the violation of these statutes has constitutional dimensions. When the Attorney General violates a statute by publishing confidential material, he cannot be said to have properly discharged his duties. Since Civil Code section 47, subdivision 1 relates to privileged publications, it is the unlawful publication which is not privileged.

Here, if the Attorney General knew or should have known that the publication of confidential material violated clear constitutional or statutory law when he published it, then he could not be said to be "properly discharging his official duties." (Cf. Wood v. Strickland (1975) 420 U.S. 308, 322, 95 S.Ct. 992, 1000, 43 L.Ed.2d 214.) He has no absolute privilege to do so under Civil Code section 47, subdivision 1.