Niall Cook posed a question a few days ago,

Some people seem to think that not linking to others is worthy of chastisement, but what about posting private emails you have received?

I was prompted to ask myself this question recently, and I am still unsure whether it is a) legal or b) ethical to post the contents of a private email someone else has sent you without their permission.

Well, for starters – duh. Put aside terms like “legal” and “ethical” for a minute and settle on these two simple propositions: 1) it’s bad form to publish an email without asking and 2) if you email someone with a blog, assume it stand the chance of being published. Period.

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2 comments so far

  1. Niall Cook

    January 1st, 2006 at 12:04 pm

    Not sure I demanded a “policy”, but thanks for the contribution. Do you think the legal element can really be dismissed?

  2. krempasky

    January 1st, 2006 at 12:05 pm

    Niall – I think so. The internet is littered with the wreckage of people that tried to sue bloggers anyway, don’t you think?

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