[ExI] Old extropy-chat archives

BillK pharos at gmail.com
Wed Mar 3 10:53:49 UTC 2010


On 3/3/10, Bryan Bishop wrote:
> Yep, I'd do it in a heart beat, if anyone actually has any of the
>  emails from before October 2003. I don't have any of these emails,
>  otherwise they would already be up on the net ;-) privacy issues be
>  damned.
>
>


I appreciate that many people think privacy doesn't exist anymore in
our Brave New World of the internet, Facebook, Google, etc.

But in the case of old Exi archives you have to give some
consideration to what the position was when these old emails were
written.

The current Exi-chat list is a public list, indexed by Google, so
outrageous comments made nowadays will be on record forever.

The Extropy-chat list started in 1991 and I believe it was originally
a private list, so posters at that time would have had some
expectation of privacy.
Remember Google wasn't founded until 1998.

The extropy-chat list went through several changes and at some stage
became a public list. The present public archives go back to Oct 2003.

First, there is the technical problem of how much of the old archives
can actually be retrieved. Some are probably on old floppy disks that
have not been read in years. Just rebuilding the archives is likely to
be a significant effort.

Secondly, there is the question of what weight should be given to the
early expectations of privacy.

>From a legal point of view (libel, slander, etc.) then the statute of
limitations has long expired. The time limit for legal action varies
between states and countries, but the norm is one or two years, with a
few extending to three years.

So, it would be a personal decision whether to expose the old archives
to public view. Some posters to the archives have died and some have
'disappeared', so it will not be possible to get permission from
everyone. Even if some posters were found that objected to
publication, it is a moral question whether they should be allowed to
prevent publication. (Remember that even back then messages could be
copied and circulated elsewhere, so the privacy wasn't 100%).

Attitudes have changed over the intervening years. It is a difficult decision.


BillK



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