ljdickey@watmath.UUCP (Lee Dickey) (05/30/84)
If I send you a letter:
(1) Do you have the right to show it to the world?
(i.e., to publish it?)
(2) Does it make a difference where I live?
(3) Does it make a difference where you live?
Does the answer to these question change if I include in my letter
something like "(c) 1984 L.J.Dickey" ?
--
Lee Dickey, University of Waterloo. (ljdickey@watmath.UUCP)
... {allegra, decvax} !watmath!ljdickeyrcb@fortune.UUCP (Robert Binstock) (05/31/84)
>>If I send you a letter: >> (1) Do you have the right to show it to the world? >> (i.e., to publish it?) >> (2) Does it make a difference where I live? >> (3) Does it make a difference where you live? >>Does the answer to these question change if I include in my letter >>something like "(c) 1984 L.J.Dickey" ? >> Lee Dickey, (1) No. (2) No. (3) No. Bob Binstock
bob@islenet.UUCP (Robert P. Cunningham) (06/06/84)
Although not involving copyright, a possibly pertinent decision was
rendered yesterday by the state Supreme Court here.
The case in point involved 13 persons accused of offering bribes to
policemen for protection of massage parlors (which, in cases,
covers for prostitution). The major evidence against the defendents
consisted of taped conversations between them and supposedly-crooked
policemen. The policemen were not crooked, of course, and they were taping
the conversations. No warrant had been obtained for the taping.
In the original trial, the Circuit judge ruled that the taping violated the
suspects' right to privacy under the (state) Constitution.
In a 3-2 decision, the state Supreme Court ruled that, in absence of
specific laws to the contrary, there was a distinction between taping
private conversations unbeknowngst to either party, and the taping of a
conversation known to one party.
Succinctly: "..a defendent cannot expect that his statements to another
person will remain private or not be repeated to others."
It's quite possible that an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court will follow.
--
Bob Cunningham ..{dual,ihnp4,uhpgvax,vortex}!islenet!bob
Honolulu, Hawaii