tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12044784.post1789948578637052710..comments2024-03-28T08:26:44.873-07:00Comments on Food Blog S'cool: Email Privacy?Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07081680210434938456noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12044784.post-31857787604137926892008-07-28T12:22:00.000-07:002008-07-28T12:22:00.000-07:00Sam,First off, thanks for all the legal effort. I...Sam,<BR/><BR/>First off, thanks for all the legal effort. It's not my area of expertise, though from the wording in some of the anonymous posts it may be for those posters.<BR/><BR/>If I understand the excerpts correctly, (and I'm sure I don't), you always have copyrights over your emails, unless someone can claim a "fair use", which then means you no longer control the privacy rights of that email. Is that it?<BR/><BR/>Another question I have is whether a corporation can claim the same privacy rights? The PR person was acting on ATK/CI's behalf, I don't know if a company can claim the same rights an individual can.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, nothing like a good old fashioned flame war to perk up the day and clear the air.<BR/><BR/>Thanks again for all the work.<BR/><BR/>Crabbywww.crabbycook.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03285213125446494347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12044784.post-66600483972526802912008-07-28T11:22:00.000-07:002008-07-28T11:22:00.000-07:00You could say, though, that the publication of the...You could say, though, that the publication of the email exchange has resulted in a financial loss for ATK/CI/CC. Many of the comments to the original post were of people declaring they would not start or renew their subscription, based on the negative impression they got from the exchange.<BR/><BR/>I think Melissa should have replied one final time to Deborah, saying that she would post the exchange unless she heard otherwise.Nate @ House of Anniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00999631992214200998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12044784.post-32318349531399256172008-07-28T10:38:00.000-07:002008-07-28T10:38:00.000-07:00I tried to present the facts objectively. Any of u...I tried to present the facts objectively. Any of us can surmise as to what might be common sense, or what we *think* is morally correct, but we are all going to have slightly different opinions on that.<BR/><BR/>I tried to find out facts about the law, which is the information I rounded up on this post.<BR/><BR/>I am no legal expert, but what I take away from what I read is that due to copyright laws you should not publish or forward emails without the consent of the originator.<BR/><BR/>That said, the email exchange in question is not one which has any artistic merit so it is unlikely that the originator would be able to sue based on loss of earnings for what was published.<BR/><BR/>What is less clear to me are the fair use/libel/slander implications. I imagine there are some, but from what little I have read, I find it difficult to come to a conclusion about who is wrong/right in this instance.Samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07081680210434938456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12044784.post-77573288528856566362008-07-28T07:32:00.000-07:002008-07-28T07:32:00.000-07:00It seems to me that issue rests on the phrase "fai...It seems to me that issue rests on the phrase "fair use". I've read the definition multiple times and can't see how Melissa has violated or infringed on any email copyrights. <BR/><BR/>Melissa published a recipe that appeared free on the CC website. She attributed the recipe to them, (though after changing 4 of 10 ingredients I would argue it resembled the original no more than it resembled any of a 1000 others). Melissa was contacted by CI citing her "violation" of a published reproduction policy. Her interaction with CI over their enforcement of their PUBLIC policy is of public interest.<BR/><BR/>To me, the key phrase in the "fair use" definition is, "for purposes such as criticism, comment...". Any reasonable person would assume that visitors to a food website might try some of the posted recipes. Furthermore, a reasonable person might expect that a reader would share his/her experiences with a particular recipe with other like minded people. In my opinion, the publishing of the recipe, her subsequent interaction with CI and its <I>potential impact on other users</I>, raises the revelation of CIs' emails to "fair use".<BR/><BR/>Indeed, that phrase "for purposes such as comment, criticism...", could pertain to the original post of the recipe as well.<BR/><BR/>"Fair use" seems to fall into that legal netherworld of a term like "obscenity". We all know it when we see it, but it's virtually impossible to write a definition that works ahead of time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12044784.post-49325289301502531992008-07-27T19:42:00.000-07:002008-07-27T19:42:00.000-07:00To my mind, none of these descriptions precisely m...To my mind, none of these descriptions precisely meets the case. The crucial point at stake here is that the blogger is, in fact, a blogger. Her job -- unpaid, probably, but that doesn't matter -- is to report as news what happens to her, what she thinks, and so on. She may not do this in such a fashion as to give away freely information that is in fact protected by copyright, patent, or whatever, and she may not expose other people to invasions of privacy such as would be ordinarily expected. So, for example, as we know from a recent big lawsuit in Britain, she cannot publish nude photos of someone she happened to spot, or even her friends, unless they gave explicit permission; the point is that they would ordinarily expect privacy in this matter.<BR/><BR/>But what was published here was an email exchange between one publisher of culinary information and another. If the first publisher (CI) feels that its behavior would not be acceptable in public, then it should not engage in it -- this is not a private individual. The question at stake is only whether CI has proprietary rights to certain information; it cannot expect that a threat of legal sanction (which is what those emails were) made in an unsecured medium would necessarily be strictly private.<BR/><BR/>As to a cease and desist notice, I doubt very much that it could be made to stick. CI would have to argue that its private information has been leaked when it had an ordinary common expectation of its remaining private. All Melissa has to say is, "um, I'm a blogger, right? You've seen blogs -- oh yes, you have, you have interns looking at hundreds of them. So you do know what we do, right? Did I publish something falsely? Did I promise you privacy? Or is it perhaps that you have sent me something that you now don't want to stand by?" I suspect CI, if it engaged a lawyer, would be told to suck it up: they just might win, who knows, but it would be a pretty Pyrrhic victory.<BR/><BR/>Think of it this way: all she has to say is that a blogger is, at base, a journalist. She made no secret of who she is or what she does; indeed, it is precisely that she does this which prompted the whole issue. If you tell a journalist something, and you do not get that journalist to say, "yes, this is off the record, don't worry," that information can now be published. If you are at a radio station for an interview, treat all mikes as live. If you are emailing a blogger, say nothing you wouldn't want to read in the paper without careful and explicit defense in advance.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12044784.post-9122521058144815152008-07-27T18:08:00.000-07:002008-07-27T18:08:00.000-07:00Sam, thank you for the extensive post on this. It...Sam, thank you for the extensive post on this. It is something another commenter brought up to me and I have considered it. I am loathe to remove the actual email, for now, and I would hope if it is ever found again by ATK/CI/CC (or Deborah herself) that I would receive a cease and desist notice prior to any other action.<BR/><BR/>Thanks again for this and for your post below. I plan to post a follow-up today.<BR/><BR/>Regards, from a long-time admirer~Melissahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12439733116558336290noreply@blogger.com