Legality of Posting Received E-Mail to Netnews?

[Daniel A. Graifer]

In article <1991Jun19.135529.25984 at mlb.semi.harris.com> dcb at dave.mis.semi.harris.com writes:
>[...]A manager responded
>to one of the parties involved via direct E-Mail. This party posted the
>E-Mail message to the "world" [...]
>
>Besides the obvious ethical problems,  are there any legal ramifications
>to this action?

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe I heard somewhere that mail, once sent, is
considered to be property of the recipient unless the originator explicitly
makes a prior claim of copyright.  (ie. If I send a copyrighted article I've
written to a magazine editor, I don't loose my copyright by that action.)

Just as in spoken conversation, it's a private matter between the two parties.
If you are told something that's explicitly in confidence, it's up to
your sense of ethics whether or not it should be revealed to others.  A
manager that criticizes an employee without explicityly asking that the
criticism remain in confidence can assume it will be discussed with other
employees.

Dan
-- 
Daniel A. Graifer			Coastal Capital Funding Corp.
Sr. Vice President, Financial Systems	7900 Westpark Dr. Suite A-130
(703)821-3244				McLean, VA  22102
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