Mailinglist privacy: MY NAME ALL OVER GOOGLE!

Anthony Atkielski atkielski.anthony at wanadoo.fr
Fri May 6 11:48:17 PDT 2005


Paul Schmehl writes:

> So, if I *respond* to one of his posts (including his email address and at
> least a portion of what he wrote) and therefore have *some* of his 
> "copyrighted" material in my post then he can request that *my* post be
> removed *without* my permission?

Not if your backquoting falls within the scope of "fair use," if you are
in the U.S.  In some other countries, he can require that you remove the
backquotes from your post (but you don't need to remove your entire
post).  And if you backquote too much, it's infringement, not fair use,
even in the U.S.

> Do you now see anything wrong with this?

No.  It actually happens.

> Before you start spouting legal advice on a public list, I would suggest
> that you point to chapter and verse that *specifically* addresses posts
> made to a public forum that *explicitly* states that such posts will be
> archived and *explicitly* states that you have the right to request their
> removal *and* the right to sue if the archiving party refuses to remove
> them.  Furthermore, you must first prove that post made to a public forum
> are protected by copyright laws.

Any creative work fixed in a tangible medium is protected by copyright
by default.  Any form of reproduction of a copyrighted work requires the
permission of its creator, _except_ as otherwise provided by law.
That's the way the law is written.  No exceptions are made for archival
of mailing lists in publicly accessible archives (nor for any other use
of messages to mailing lists, AFAIK).

-- 
Anthony




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