Re: [piecepack] [OT] Quoting others

[Dave Boyle <dboyle@...>]

When I first saw the quote in question I knew it was a breech of etiquette,
but I wasn't sure if it went any farther than that.  So I did some checking.

A quick search in Google brought up any number of sites discussing the
subject (and a bunch of sites that weren't of course).  Looking only at law
firms, law colleges and the likes, the overwhelming opinion I read was that
private email was in fact covered by copyright and that copying that private
email to a public forum constitutes publishing a copyrighted work and you
need to have the authors permission to do so.

There was one firm who said this could be effectively argued against, but
that once you did it your still could be opening yourself up to defamation
of character, violation of privacy, revealing trade secrets, or other
charges depending on what exactly was shared.

In the context of this group specifically, the Yahoo! terms of service state
that quoting private email publicly is a violation and can lead to removal.
Yahoo! was kind enough to confirm this, though they don't know specifically
what it was in reference to.

Legalities aside, this is one of those things you should just know is wrong.
Treat other people with respect and courtesy.  Don't be like Mr. Bungles.

> Mike Schoessow wrote:
>> I don't know what the legalities are, but it would not surprise me to
>> discover that private e-mails were covered under some sort of privacy
>> law.
> 
> Privacy law?  What do you think this is, Europe?
> 
> Within the U.S., once you send e-mail (or a letter) to an individual, it
> is no longer private.  You have shared it with another, and that person
> has the legal freedom to show others or redistribute it.  People also
> have the right to discuss phone conversations with others, but letters
> and e-mail are potentially more damaging because you lose the ability to
> deny you said something.
> 
> I deal with this as a writer, such as when sources say they don't want
> to be quoted saying such-and-such, but then they give me information off
> the record.  I have never used such quotes because it would be rude to
> do so, yet should I ever desire to be a jerk, the law would back me up.
> 
> Rely on the advice of mothers everywhere: If you don't want others to
> know you said something, don't say it in the first place.
> 
> Eric-4
> 
> -- 
> W. Eric Martin - TwoWriters.net
> 
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