Forget Hardy

[Derek Broughton]

Bart Silverstrim wrote:

> Derek Broughton wrote:
> 
>>> And, before anybody asks, no... I will not
>>> post those private emails here...
>> 
>> Of course not, that would be an unconscionable breach of etiquette.  Not
>> to mention that it's strictly illegal.
> 
> In germany, maybe? I think they have stricter privacy laws...but I
> honestly don't remember ever seeing anything anywhere about email
> legality.
> 
> A pointer, please?

OK, it's largely untested in courts around the world, but under the Bern
Convention, a treaty honoured in most of the world, a person's work
(including letters) belongs to the creator of that work.  Therefore, it is
illegal to publish somebody's letters without their permission.  Posting
something to this list obviously contains an implied permission, but
posting private emails doesn't.  The gray area is whether email should be
treated the same way as snail mail, but most experts seem to agree it must
be.

> I've read more than once about those silly disclaimers at the end of
> emailed not being legally enforceable...yet people waste space with them.

By all opinions I've received, those disclaimers should be _legal_ - the
problem being "enforceable".  And even then, they can only apply to
_personal_ email, not to mail sent to a list.
-- 
derek