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Is Publicly Accessible Information Public?
Posted by Paul Szynol on Monday, October 28 @ 17:50:24 EST Privacy
The Washington Post reports that a Swedish IT firm has sued Reuters "for obtaining an earnings report from a Web page it considered private".

Apparently, the report was not publicly released, but was available to the public -- i.e., to anyone who had the URL -- and the issue, in other words, appears to be whether publicly accessible information is ipso facto public.

It will be equally interesting to see which nation's laws will, in this case, make that determination.

 
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"User's Login" | Login/Create an Account | 3 comments | Search Discussion
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Requesting a copy (Score: 0)
by Anonymous (Name Withheld on Advice of Counsel) on Monday, October 28 @ 18:27:28 EST
Bernstein discusses this as part of Internet reader's rights [cr.yp.to]:
When an author tells his FTP server to send a document to anyone who asks, he is the one making copies. In legal jargon, the author's command to the computer is the ``proximate cause'' of the copying. The reader is merely requesting a copy, not making it.


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  • Re: Requesting a copy by Anonymous (Name Withheld on Advice of Counsel) on Tuesday, October 29 @ 00:21:02 EST
Custom and Trouble (Score: 1)
by JamesGrimmelmann on Monday, October 28 @ 21:47:09 EST
(User Info | Send a Message) http://www.laboratorium.net
So much of the Internet is being held up by non-binding technical "suggestions" that I'm actually quite concerned that unless the law works out a reasonable way of accomodating these suggestions, a lot of efficient functionality we take for granted could just up and disappear.

Example one: robots.txt. It's not self-enforcing; it wasn't legally binding the last time I checked.

Example two: anonymous FTP. You're supposed to leave an email address.

Example three: the spam wars between block lists and problem mail relays. Here, the self-help is a bit stronger, but it's still basically a lawless regime.


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