Legal Question in Technology Law in California

Re: Copyright, confidentiality, privacy and posting to a mail / news group

I want to add only two things to the otherwise excellent information previously given.

First, posting to a public list implies a right to a certain amount of copying. I would say that the size of the distribution does affect how copyright law might be interpreted in some contexts.

Second, the person who posts a message can waive only his own privacy rights, not those of someone else. So the poster could be sued for some types of wrongful behavior relating to the the posts. However, the ditributor of the automated Internet discussion forum will typically not be liable for the tortious behavior of users.

Re: Copyright, confidentiality, privacy and posting to a mail / news group

Copyright protection of creative works are often distributed openly on the web without waiving rights. However, I suspect you are more interested in maintaining the confidences and privacy of the posting to a public board. Generally speaking, posting to a public board (one where most anyone can register or participate)serves as a waiver of any privacy interests you have in the communication. Without knowing the exact circumstances, and the use of the information, generally speaking you have no reasonable expectation of privacy in information publicly and volunarily distributed. The fact that the posting was "not secure" (I assume you mean not encrypted) generally has no bearing on the situation.