Re: OT but essential Cut, paste and moving text isn't quoting

From: O-V R:nen (Otto-Ville.Ronkainen_at_ling.helsinki.fi)
Date: 08/23/04 

Date: 23 Aug 2004 16:25:54 +0300

Martyn Harrison <nospam@spammers.of.the.world.unite> writes:

> How can the data protection act be used to defend the privacy of expressions of
> opinion that have, in any case, been publicly published on an international
> forum?

Well, the 1995 EC directive really stems from the 1980s, so phenomena
like Internet or Usenet were hardly considered seriously in the
legislative process... But I don't agree that information that is
seemingly public in one context inherently falls outside the scope of
data protection. After all, the amalgamation of personal data gathered
from Usenet posts (some of which may even be considered sensitive) and
other public sources can be used for a large number of purposes not
envisioned by the individual when posting a message. For instance, it
may not necessarily be legal for prospective employers to google for
the name of an applicant, at least if sensitive data show up in the search.
Not that anyone seems to care, really. (US law is very different from
EU law here.)

> This is like accusing someone of hacking, i.e. because they have altered data
> on my computer (well, the usenet messages are stored on my computer and these
> contain data from <poster>, therefore <poster> has modified the contents of my
> hard disk. Technically this might be true, but it is nonsense.)

In all jurisdictions I know of, the actions have to be unauthorized
(against the will of the owner of the computer or whoever) in order to
qualify as the kind of hacking that is considered a criminal offence.

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