On Sunday 20 Sep 2009 19:12:31 Shawn H Corey wrote: > Telemachus wrote: > > On Sun Sep 20 2009 @ 10:13, Shawn H Corey wrote: > >> Telemachus wrote: > >>> Ok, I'll bite: do you really mean to say that it's a crime somewhere to > >>> put this bullshit drivel into an email and then send that mail to a > >>> public list? Annoying, sure. Pointless, sure. Non-binding, sure. But a > >>> crime? > >> > >> Speeding is illegal but not a crime. Not all laws are part of the > >> criminal code. > > > > I think that my meaning was reasonably clear, but apparently not. > > > > Is it part of hte civil code then? Is there some law - be it criminal or > > otherwise - against putting the silly disclaimers into emails and then > > sending those emails to a public mail list? > > > > I'm genuininely curious (and find it a little hard to believe). > > It is misrepresentation. By participating in a public newsgroup, > mailing list or forum, you automatically place that correspondence in > the public domain since their stated purpose is to share information.
The term "the public domain" may be misleading here. What you meant is that work is now "public" or "public knowledge" or something, not that its copyright has expired or that the author has explicitly waived all rights: * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain * http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC0_FAQ For all we know, an email that was posted to a mailing list could be proprietary and restricted, and by default it is. However, it is a public artwork, that is meant for public consumption and is archived etc. As I noted here: http://www.shlomifish.org/philosophy/case-for-file-swapping/ public artworks are those that are not secret, confidential, private, personal, etc. In this day and age, we can expect them to be copied, digitised, distributed and redistributed, quoted, sampled, remixed, etc. up to the limits of the respect that people put into the originator, and the limits of the reach of the law. (This is not the place to discuss the opinions which I voice in the essay, but if you have any comments on it feel free to use the Disqus comments system on the page, or alternatively reply to my private E-mail.) > Then claiming that anyone who reads it cannot use it as they see fit, > violates the agreement that you willing accepted. It is illegal to > claim ownership to something you no longer have ownership of. > I'm not sure whether we should discuss it so exhaustively. Many workplaces add it to their employee's E-mails, and it is a common practice, and it gets posted to public mailing lists with publicly accessible archives, and it may be legally iffy - but that's life. And it's more amusing to read them than saddening. Regards, Shlomi Fish -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Shlomi Fish http://www.shlomifish.org/ "The Human Hacking Field Guide" - http://shlom.in/hhfg Chuck Norris read the entire English Wikipedia in 24 hours. Twice. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: beginners-unsubscr...@perl.org For additional commands, e-mail: beginners-h...@perl.org http://learn.perl.org/
