asshat alert: reposting private E-mail is rude and uncouth

[drewkitty]

With respect to this courtesy of evilgrins:

It is well understood both on the Internet and as a matter of copyright law that reposting private E-mails is of dubious legality (if as a practical matter unenforceable) and certainly uncool. See links below. Note that Brad is a Baycon attendee and a subject matter expert.

Like our host, you clearly Don't Get that just because you are capable of an action, does not mean that you should Just Do It without regard to the rights or feelings of others.

The consequence is that people should not E-mail either of you in the expectation of any privacy at all, or even common courtesy.

Noted.

http://www.businessemailetiquette.com/copyright-refresher/

“E-mail is not copyright protected once it is sent.”
E-mail is a written work that once created is copyright protected by the author. This means you cannot post publicly an e-mail sent to you privately. You cannot post private e-mails to your site, to message boards or to your blog without the author’s specific permission to do so.
Just because an e-mail was sent to you as a private communication does not mean you then own it and can do with it what you like. In addition, e-mail that is posted to a group of people, on a mailing list or Newsgroup does not make the e-mail available for reposting, copying, or any other use – not without the express and written consent of the author.

http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

10) "They e-mailed me a copy, so I can post it."

To have a copy is not to have the copyright. All the E-mail you write is copyrighted. However, E-mail is not, unless previously agreed, secret. So you can certainly report on what E-mail you are sent, and reveal what it says. You can even quote parts of it to demonstrate. Frankly, somebody who sues over an ordinary message would almost surely get no damages, because the message has no commercial value, but if you want to stay strictly in the law, you should ask first. On the other hand, don't go nuts if somebody posts E-mail you sent them. If it was an ordinary non-secret personal letter of minimal commercial value with no copyright notice (like 99.9% of all E-mail), you probably won't get any damages if you sue them.

Note as well that, the law aside, keeping private correspondence private is a courtesy one should usually honour.