Thanks

Last year I did have an objection to some material appearing about myself on 
a Moderated newsgroup. I considered it defamatory (although I was using an 
alias - I gathered that some knew my identity) and that it put me in some 
danger.

I did enquire about taking legal action. This would obviously be a rich 
man's hobby as I approached a well-known solicitors in this field - hoping 
that they would be keen to take it on - their response was that we will take 
it on if you instruct us - which was hardly enthusiastic.

My complaints were made to the ISP's as the problem was the unevenness of 
the Moderation - the moderators were participants in the discussions that 
were being moderated and therefore didn't take an independent stance.

I just left the group - they are a closed world - and once I was no longer 
there they could do what they liked - although I could see what they were up 
to on Google Archive.

It seems that if someone had posted 2000 times to a group in 2 years (6 per 
day) that they had left the group was likely to fold anyway.

It seems to me anyway that if it is an absolutely private group why is he 
bothered because the only people who will see it are the few members - if it 
is public there is not much that they can do about it anyway.

I would also note that the OPSI (Office of Public Sector Information) says 
on the subject of Discussion Forums 
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/forums/forums/faq.asp

"Q. Will information in a private forum be made available under Freedom of 
Information?
A. Information in any of the discussion forums on this website may be 
released in response to a Freedom of Information request."
FoI, of course, only applies to public authorities. And presumably personal 
information would generally have to be excluded.
It also says:

"Q. Can I edit my own posts?
A. You may edit or delete your own posts at any time. Just go to the forum 
where the post to be edited or deleted is located and you will see a edit or 
delete link shown after each message. Click the links to edit or delete the 
post. No one else can edit your post, except for Moderators or 
Administrators."

I wonder whether posts that have been edited can be requested in every 
version that has been posted. (I know an FoI question).

Finally, I note that the website Professional Pilots Rumour Network

http://www.pprune.org/forums/faq.php?s=153fcd163ce2885f7ff72996c288011f

warns at the bottom:

"As these are anonymous forums the origins of the contributions may be 
opposite to what may be apparent. In fact the press may use it, or the 
unscrupulous, to elicit certain reactions."

I note that 
http://www.pprune.org/forums/faq.php?faq=vb_read_and_post#faq_vb_edit_posts:

"To edit or delete your posts, click the Edit button by the post you want to 
edit. If your post was the first in the thread, then deleting the post may 
result in the removal of the entire thread."

Nick Landau

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "C.Oppenheim" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "Nick Landau" <[log in to unmask]>; 
<[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 5:08 PM
Subject: Re: Who has legal ownership of the posts on webbased forums?


> Everyone owns the copyright in the material they post (assuming they 
> haven't copied it from someone else).  if what they post is part of a 
> thread (as this posting is) then (in this case) Nick and I jointly own the 
> copyright in the combined thread material.
>
> A copyright owner can prevent others from reproducing the material, but 
> once the material is out there published cannot insist that the material 
> be withdrawn unless the material in question is illegal (e.g., it's 
> libellous, breaks DP law, terrorism law, contempt of court, is 
> pornographic, etc.) Only in such cases is the person able to insist the 
> material be withdrawn. Ownership of copyright does not imply you can 
> "unpublish" something that has been published.
>
> Not sure this really answers the question though.....
>
> Charles
>
> Professor Charles Oppenheim
> Head
> Department of Information Science
> Loughborough University
> Loughborough
> Leics LE11 3TU
>
> Tel 01509-223065
> Fax 01509-223053
> e mail [log in to unmask]
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Nick Landau" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 4:56 PM
> Subject: Who has legal ownership of the posts on webbased forums?
>
>
>> Maybe someone can answer this which relates to Data Protection.
>>
>> This has been posted to a legal newsgroup:
>>
>> "Who has legal ownership of the posts on webbased forums...?
>>
>> Example
>>
>> A regular poster requests the mods to remove his account and all 2k posts
>> (he has seen this request before and seen it done) However the mods just
>> delete his account. He is now powerless to remove his posts himself.
>>
>> What is the legal aspect of this?"
>>
>> Such an example might be this group.
>>
>> I "resign" and "demand" that you remove all my posts.
>>
>> If someone has been so active in the forum (2000 posts), then their 
>> comments would appear in every thread and by such a demand would spell 
>> the very end of the forum.
>>
>> Indeed it has occurred to me that if one wanted to sabotage a private 
>> web-based group this would be a very good way of doing it.
>>
>> I have seen http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/policy/copyright.htm which 
>> compares sending an post to sending a letter to a newspaper.
>>
>> Nick Landau
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> 

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