Re: Reality of electronic copyright

> Just to draw a distinction, though... there's a difference in
> expectations when 1) posting an item to a newsgroup or bulletin board
> or mailing it to a listserver/mailing list and 2) forwarding personal
> electronic mail. In the former case, my expectation is that people may
> copy it, forward it, etc. The forum makes it public already. For
> personal electronic mail, however, I would *not* forward a message or
> post the message without permission since the general understanding
> (I think) is that the message is to me, not a public forum.
>
> -- Libby Evans
> uevans[_at_]med.unc.edu

I've not been following this discussion much. But is above everyone's assumption? Does that mean that when someone writes me a physical letter as Dean of the law school, that my copying it and distributing it to my assistant deans is against the writers expectation. My instinct is that if expectations were the key that unless I say otherwise, I pretty much expect that letters I write will be seen (either in its original or copied form) by others. I do not of course expect to see them published in a collection or otherwise exploited. I would be shocked if the rule were that I violate copyright law everytime I forward some e-mail message.

Harvey Perlman
<hperlman[_at_]unlinfo.unl.edu> Received on Fri Nov 18 1994 - 18:05:49 GMT