Anthony Atkielski atkielski.anthony at wanadoo.fr
Mon Feb 7 08:13:16 PST 2005

Eric Kjeldergaard writes:

EK> Let us make an analogue betwixt our Valerie and one who submits to the
EK> local newspaper.  There is a roughly equal level of consent given in
EK> both cases ...

Not so, on two points: (1) the newspaper is obviously available to
anyone (it's on the newsstands), and not only to a selected group, and
(2) the messages to the newspaper appear in print and are thus much less
ephemeral than e-mail messages.  A person sending a letter to a
newspaper knows that everyone may see it, because he saw the newspaper
on the newsstands--that's how newspapers are.  He also knows that his
letter may be archived, because newspapers are on paper and are often
kept in morgues indefinitely.

These assumptions are not valid for mailing lists.  It's reasonable to
assume that a mailing list distributes messages only to people who are
subscribed to the mailing list.  It's also reasonable to assume that the
messages sent to the list don't exist outside of their ephemeral
distribution to the members of the list.

Someone submitting to a periodical with a closed circulation
(subscribers only) would be a closer analogy to the case at hand, but it
still would not match the ephemeral character of a mailing list.

EK> Would this not be a reasonable analogy (if we throw out the fact
EK> that the newspaper companies are generally capitalist entities since
EK> it has little bearing here)?

No, for reasons stated above.

EK> Certainly the newspaper didn't require a contract to be signed by
EK> its submitters before distributing publicly their submissions.

Many periodicals impose conditions on anyone writing letters to the
editor, which they clearly state in the same place where they give
instructions on how to send letters to the editor.

EK> I don't see that a mailing list would need such a thing. The
EK> submissions are given under the understanding that they shall be
EK> publicly available both to subscribers and non subscribers in their
EK> favourite restaurants and libraries.

There is no such understanding with respect to a mailing list.


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