Quoting private messages in the forum
Quoting private messages in the forum
On a scale of 1 - 10, how would you rate the seriousness of this act? I was wondering today if it might actually be possible to stoop any lower, and came to the conclusion that I would have more respect for a tramp excreeting in public and throwing his turd through somebody's window. In my opinion, somebody who quotes private messages on the forum, without permission from the sender who initiated the private conversation, is much lower than, say, a tramp urinating on a bus. I'm curious to know what the rest of you think? If you spotted this act being committed in public, would you actually speak up and say something or would you think nothing of it?
If people want something out in the public then they would put the message there themself. I had a similar event last year when I was trying to have a private conversation with a website but he kept putting the messages in the public domain. In the end I stopped sending messages and the matter was never resolved. Some people can't think for themselves and seem to forget that this is a public website. Anyway, private messages remain the copyright of the original writer and are breaking copyright laws when they are put into the public domain.
Sean, thanks for your reply. However, I don't believe quoting private messages in public falls within copyright laws. Instead, what comes to mind is privacy and data protection act. Quoting a paragraph from a book is not the same as quoting part of somebody's private conversion; they are two separate things. In fact, quoting a paragraph from a book might actually be legal if the source information is provided. But what if I quoted somebody's private message and then identified the source as Sean!? 
"The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog"
Source: some book by John Smith copyright Animal Publishing.
"I met up with Stuart and he offered me £1,000 to close down Sydenham News"
Source: a private message sent by Sean copyright Sean.
Now, obviously Sean has not really said these words, and the above examples are entirely fictional to demonstrate the differences between quoting a book and quoting a private message. Regardless of whether it's legal to post such examples, one is clearly more disturbing than the other; does everyone agree?
"The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog"
Source: some book by John Smith copyright Animal Publishing.
"I met up with Stuart and he offered me £1,000 to close down Sydenham News"
Source: a private message sent by Sean copyright Sean.
Now, obviously Sean has not really said these words, and the above examples are entirely fictional to demonstrate the differences between quoting a book and quoting a private message. Regardless of whether it's legal to post such examples, one is clearly more disturbing than the other; does everyone agree?
I used to live in SE13 and the same thing happened to me there. I sent a few private messages and they appeared in the main forum. My reply in responce to this was made in a private message to highlight the fact that we needed to sort out some business in private but again the messages were put into the main forum. In the end it was impossible to have any form of private conversation. I personally think it is wrong to bring someone's private messages into the main forum and forum admins should take responsibilty and action to stop this. All messages sent in PM can be viewed by admins of forums so it's very easy to trace who has been doing a cut-and-paste job, especially if they are putting a different source associated with the messages.
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PS. I can confirm that no money changed hands when Sydenham News closed. Although the stock exchange did report a fall on the Dow Jones that morning. lol
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PS. I can confirm that no money changed hands when Sydenham News closed. Although the stock exchange did report a fall on the Dow Jones that morning. lol
Don't get too defensive about it though, as fiction could turn to fact.PS. I can confirm that no money changed hands when Sydenham News closed.
There was once a fictional story written called "Death Of A Spammer" where an Internet spammer was murdered by having a can of spam shoved down his throat! This story then circulated on the net as fact--a bit like the story of Jesus and his miracles. 
I'm glad we see eye-to-eye on this, Sean! So then, on a scale of 1 - 10, how would you rate the seriousness of this atrocious act given the fact it's a breach of security?personally think it is wrong to bring someone's private messages into the main forum and forum admins should take responsibilty and action to stop this.
If X posts that Y said Z in a PM is, I agree, a case for moderation unless publication is in the public interest. That doesn't apply here as no remarks were attributed to anyone. Non attribution is the stuff of most journalism and should not be a problem for posters.
You could say using the words without attribution/authorisation was a breach of copyright rather than confidentiality which is somewhat ironic in the circumstances.
Admin
You could say using the words without attribution/authorisation was a breach of copyright rather than confidentiality which is somewhat ironic in the circumstances.
Admin
First: how serious do you think it is? How much respect would you have for somebody who blatantly posted somebody's private messages in the public forum?* Is this sort of thing acceptable in your opinion? Let's just say: what if you found out that Stuart was doing this with a certain user's private messages? How would your opinion of Stuart change? I'm not saying Stuart has done anything of the sort; but what if he had?So has this actually happened?*
*AND attributed the quote to the forum member.
Does there need to be a purpose? Does the content make any difference? What possible reason could justify posting somebody's private message in the forum!?It depends on the content of the private messages and the purpose of making them public.
This world is a lot more stranger than I thought... no wonder I can never understand people's mentality half the time.
I did use the word 'public interest'. Let us take a hypothetical situation a person is saying one thing in public and the opposite in private. This could be justified (like the person could only disclose something confidentiality) or not. Let us say it is a deliberate plan to unfairly deceive. In the later case - should the receiver stay silent?
Difficult decision. I hope they would consult me. It would be a matter of judgement and one that ultimately is judged by others as to whether a breach of confidentiality is justified. Remember the Clive Ponting affair where the discloser was in breach of the official secrets act but the jury found the public interest was sufficient to acquit him?
As I said hypothetical and nothing to do with anything that has happened here. But thank you for asking.
Admin
Difficult decision. I hope they would consult me. It would be a matter of judgement and one that ultimately is judged by others as to whether a breach of confidentiality is justified. Remember the Clive Ponting affair where the discloser was in breach of the official secrets act but the jury found the public interest was sufficient to acquit him?
As I said hypothetical and nothing to do with anything that has happened here. But thank you for asking.
Admin
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peter coppin
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