To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 17:03:25 -0400
Subject: [WSFA] Re: On Google and WSFA policy
From: ronkean at juno.com
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

On Fri, 26 Apr 2002 09:58:48 -0700 (PDT) N Lynch <sfbookfan at yahoo.com>
writes:
> > Interestingly, ronkean at juno.com said:
> > >Would there be any support for having a list policy
> > that message content
> > >which has not otherwise been made public, shall not
> > be disseminated
> > >outside WSFA?
>
> And this would be enforced how?  As we've seen with
> laws of any state, what good is making rules if they
> cannot be enforced?
>

There is no way to to enforce it against a willful violator other than by
suspension or termination of list privileges or by means of other club
sanctions.  In practice, the enforcement of such a rule would largely
depend on people simply respecting the rule.  In other words, the
practical enforcement would by peer pressure and the individual
conscience.  To prevent misunderstandings and simple ignorance of the
rules, the rules should be automatically posted once per month, as they
are on the MD Libertarian Party email lists.

> Also, how do you decide if something is made public?
> Is talking about running Capclave public if you also
> talk about it at the meeting?  People have gone around
> and around about who is a public figure and what can
> be said about them in courts.  It's just as hard to
> decided what is made public.
>

There may well be grey areas in deciding what has already been 'made
public' and what has not.  Perhaps there is some better way to define the
rules.  The intent of the rule would be to get people to avoid
publicizing embarrassing, personal, or divisive items taken from the
email list, outside the list, or, more importantly, outside WSFA.  It is
very easy to forward email messages, and that would most likely be the
way in which casual, and often unintended, breaches of privacy etiquette
would happen.  So it might be good to have a rule against forwarding
items from the list to people outside WSFA.  Announcements and other
information which also appear on the public portion of the website, or in
other public venues, would be fair to forward.  Usually, common sense
would be a reliable guide to what might be objectionable to forward.  The
rules are a means to clarify the cultural consensus under which the list
would operate.

Ron Kean

.

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