Re: Greg Lindahl's attitude bothers me!

From: skrenta@pbm.com (Rich Skrenta)

Date: Fri, 05 May 1995 00:00:00 +0000

pyrich@cris.com (John Pyrich) writes:
> Mail is mail, private or public.

I don't know what "public mail" is.  With the exception of mailing lists,
mail is inherently private -- it goes to one person.  Posting to the net
is publishing.  Publishing what was privately sent to you without the
permission of the author is frowned upon here on Usenet.

I don't expect people I chat with in the hallway at work to record my
conversations and play them on the radio.  I would certainly be aghast
if someone dug up my sixth-grade book reports and printed them in the
newspaper.  If Greg wanted to address the rec.games.pbm audience (54,000
by one estimate), he would have posted in the first place.

> If you send *anything* by mail, either
> electronic or snail, you better be willing to stand by your comments.

Care should definitely be taken when sending email; you never know where it
might turn up again in the future.  Figure that your words will be recorded
forever (they are, if you email to me).  On the other hand, this doesn't
justify rude behavior on the part of the receiver.

You can disagree with my arguments, but the fact is that the informal
rules of the Usenet are not to post private email without the author's
permission.  Don't do it, or you'll be a net.dweeb.

Frequently Submitted Items

This document discusses some items that occur repeatedly on USENET.
They frequently are submitted by new users, and result in many
followups, sometimes swamping groups for weeks. The purpose of this
note is to head off these annoying events by answering some questions
and warning about the inevitable consequence of asking others.  If you
don't like these answers let spaf@purdue.edu know.

[...]

32.  Are there any restrictions on posting e-mail someone sends to me?

At a minimum, it is only polite for you to contact the author of
     the letter and secure her or his permission to post it to the net.

On a more serious note, it can be argued that posting someone's
     e-mail to the net without their permission is a violation of
     copyright law.  Under that law, even though a letter was addressed
     to you, it does not grant you the right to publish the contents,
     since those are the work of the author and the author retains
     copyright (even if no explicit copyright mark appears).

Basically, your letters are your intellectual property.  If
     someone publishes your letters they are violating your copyright.
     This principle is well-founded in "paper media," and while
     untested in electronic forums such as Usenet, the same would
     probably apply if tested in court.

References

Re: Greg Lindahl's attitude bothers me!
pyrich@cris.com (John Pyrich)
Thu, 04 May 1995 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Re: Greg Lindahl's attitude bothers me!
pyrich@cris.com (John Pyrich)
Thu, 04 May 1995 00:00:00 +0000