I have recently read a thread on a forum where a forum member posted the entire contents of a private email she'd received from someone she had done business with. As soon as I read this thread I said to myself:
" Never do business with her!!"
All the warning lights went on. Imagine a business associate behaving so unprofessionally as to publish private correspondence?
What has cyber space become?
It should be the law of the land and understood by all that emails are by their very nature private and not for publication or publishing on public boards.
I aired my disgust when I saw the post and unbelievably received very little support.
Was that due to fear of retribution by the forum thread starter or an indication of apathy to such matters?
The forum in question doesn't allow private forum messages between members to be made public and yet allows this. Presumably this means that they respect the privacy of members messages but not that of none members. This is rather sad and short sighted as todays none member could be tomorrows fully paid up member!
I raised the issue of legalities on the forum. I at first assumed the poster could be sued for publishing private emails but I am not sure this is correct.
Is publishing private emails illegal?
I would have thought that publishing private emails is illegal or at least covered by some form of Internet law. It might be the case that publishing private emails is covered under copyright laws, but I am no expert!
Check out this useful forum thread here on the details.
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum44/1500.htm
This forum thread (linked above) indicates that the email author has copyright and so their emails cannot be published without their permission.
For a more detailed look at the legal issues surrounding publishing emails or even forwarding emails without the consent of the original author visit this law site
here .
Meanwhile it also might be the case that Internet Service Providers prohibit the publication of private emails as per their terms of service. They take violations of their terms of service very seriously and can withdraw service from anyone who breaches their code of conduct.
It is always worth checking your service providers terms of service to see if your emails are protected by copyright and if so, how you can report people publishing your emails online, to your service provider.
The last word
Whatever the law, please don't air your dirty laundry in public and keep your whingeing, whining, bitching to your close pals and family who you can trust not to forward your rants to the people concerned.
But as we know that is how gossip starts!
It appears the Internet is no different. Welcome to cyber space!
