From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 10098 invoked by alias); 6 Aug 2007 14:04:55 -0000 Received: (qmail 10037 invoked by uid 22791); 6 Aug 2007 14:04:54 -0000 X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org Received: from smtp-out.google.com (HELO smtp-out.google.com) (216.239.45.13) by sourceware.org (qpsmtpd/0.31) with ESMTP; Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:04:48 +0000 Received: from zps35.corp.google.com (zps35.corp.google.com [172.25.146.35]) by smtp-out.google.com with ESMTP id l76E48lB024975; Mon, 6 Aug 2007 07:04:08 -0700 Received: from smtp.corp.google.com (spacemonkey2.corp.google.com [192.168.120.114]) by zps35.corp.google.com with ESMTP id l76E41Q8031799 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Mon, 6 Aug 2007 07:04:01 -0700 Received: from localhost.localdomain.google.com (204.sub-75-208-42.myvzw.com [75.208.42.204]) (authenticated bits=0) by smtp.corp.google.com (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id l76E3215015755 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Mon, 6 Aug 2007 07:03:56 -0700 To: Eli Zaretskii Cc: gdb@sourceware.org, dewar@adacore.com, b07584@freescale.com, rgetz@blackfin.uclinux.org, jimb@codesourcery.com Subject: Re: Posting from work/university addresses References: <4414a3a80707292340v1e8918edp204ea680f61823c2@mail.gmail.com> <20070731000833.GB1092@ednor.casa.cgf.cx> <200708021302.37222.rgetz@blackfin.uclinux.org> <46B2101F.6060305@adacore.com> <20070802183431.GA6833@ednor.casa.cgf.cx> <20070803231205.GB11438@ednor.casa.cgf.cx> From: Ian Lance Taylor In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.4 Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:04:00 -0000 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Mailing-List: contact gdb-help@sourceware.org; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: , Sender: gdb-owner@sourceware.org X-SW-Source: 2007-08/txt/msg00054.txt.bz2 Eli Zaretskii writes: > > Cc: gdb@sourceware.org, dewar@adacore.com, b07584@freescale.com, rgetz@blackfin.uclinux.org, jimb@codesourcery.com > > From: Ian Lance Taylor > > Date: 04 Aug 2007 11:32:44 -0700 > > > > As far as I can tell, you are requesting that we not do anything dumb, > > No, that's not it. My problem is that I don't see the motivation for > rejecting such messages spelled out anywhere. The URL you mentioned > _advises_ to do something, but, AFAIU, there's some policy issues > involved here, which are not explained anywhere. The reason we would like to block the disclaimers is that they impose a legal liability on us. The problematic disclaimers are the ones which say something along the lines of "If you are not the intended recipient you must not disseminate, copy .... We request that you notify COMPANYNAME immediately." The problem is that we can not obey those instructions, as we automatically archive the e-mail message and make it available for anybody in the world to see. Since we are violating the terms of the disclaimer, the sender has reasonable grounds to sue us. It is likely that the suit would not prevail in the end, as my understanding is that the disclaimers are unenforceable under U.S. law, but that does not matter since we are a volunteer organization with no means to defend ourselves. I think it is very unwise to leave ourselves open to this sort of legal liability. This is of course a personal issue for me since as one of the administrators of gcc.gnu.org/sourceware.org, and the owner of the domain name sourceware.org, I would be personally named in the lawsuit. This may seem rather farfetched to you, but just in this year I have received two threatening legal letters concerning sourceware.org on other issues. I was able to defuse both issues (one concerning defamatory spam e-mail we had archived, one concerning the use of software downloaded from sourceware.org in a contract dispute), but I have a strong personal interest in defusing these issues before they arise. If there were a reason to accept those e-mail messages, then I would have a different opinion on the matter. But I see no reason that we should accept them. They are infrequent and relatively easy to avoid. I know of only one case of a person who was required to use those disclaimers and was prohibited from using web-based e-mail accounts at work. I am willing to sacrifice one potential contributor for this issue. Note that EU law does not require anything along the lines of "If you are not the intended recipient....". We have no problem with adding company identification information to e-mail messages. Many people do this even within the U.S. > > we're free software volunteers just like you. We're on your side. > > We won't do anything dumb. > > Isn't this a matter of policy of Red Hat (or some other organization)? > I do trust you, but I don't know about organizations. No, this has nothing to do with Red Hat or any other organization. Neither Chris nor I work for Red Hat. Ian