Sounds like you need to pay a visit to a copyright attorney, Joan. ----- Original Message ----- From: <Jma8763@aol.com> To: <COPYRIGHT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 5:28 PM Subject: [COPYRIGHT] personal e-mails posted to the net?????? > > Hi all, > > I've run into a bit of a "situation", and was wondering if I had ANY > recourse under copyright laws. I exchanged a series of e-mails with a guy who > was > researching some of the same family names that I was looking for, and now I > find, not only all of my data posted on his website, but my private e-mails > to him are posted as well!! > We had stopped corresponding when he asked me to co-author an article on > these families, but since a LOT of what I had was speculative, I made it clear > that I was not comfortable portraying it as fact. He got upset, claiming > that I had too high of a standard for what consists of "proof" of a > relationship, and he finally stopped writing when he couldn't persuade me to > lower my > standards to meet his, so he was VERY CLEAR on the fact that I did NOT want my > data published ANYWHERE yet! BTW, HIS standards, according to him, are: Come > up with a best guess theory, and if you can't find anything to disprove it, > it's more likely than not to be accurate......HUH??????? > Anyway, when he sent me an e-mail regarding updates to his website, I was > SHOCKED to find my e-mails to him copied into the notes section of various > pages! There was nothing earth shattering in there, but there was personal > information that I would never have wanted posted on a website! A couple of > examples....he asked me who I was and where I lived, which I replied to, and > it's now posted on his website. I forwarded him an e-mail that I had written > to > another genealogy friend of mine who is legally blind, so I added a note > apologizing for the font size, and why it was so large....THAT'S posted on his > website!!! > I wrote to him and asked him to please remove my e-mails, as they contained > personal information, such as my name, my former occupation, as well as > those of LIVING people in the family, my e-mail address, the town where I > live, > and personal information on some of my research contacts. His response was > that, unless I give him permission to use the data contained in my e-mails, > that he HAS to keep them posted in order to publish the information they > contain > while preserving MY copyright?!!! > SO, does anyone know if I actually HAVE a copyright to my e-mails? And if > so, can someone publish them to the internet without my permission???? I > almost feel like I'm being blackmailed here....give my permission, or live > with > my e-mails being published!!! PLEASE understand that I KNOW he has a right > to publish the public record data, even though it isn't his research, but > does he have the right to post my theories and other personal information, > verbatim, without my permission????? > In all fairness, he did say that he would remove some of the "personal" > information that he didn't feel was relevant to "telling the story", which in > my humble opinion was never HIS story to tell!!! BUT, he said that I have > only found a portion of my e-mails so far, and that he will only remove > information that I specify, and then only IF he deems it unimportant to the > story! > He has some 60,000 names in his database, and now he's claiming that the only > way I can have ANY of MY information removed, is to go through all of the > entries that pertained to the people we discussed, which are HUNDREDS, and > read > through ALL of their notes, to see if my information is there, and then beg > to have it removed?!!! > Am I really at his mercy here, or do I have any recourse to have this > information removed, without giving him my permission to take credit for my > research and theories?!!!! Any and ALL advice on this matter would be GREATLY > appreciated!!!! > > THANKS!! > Joan > > > > ==== COPYRIGHT Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from this list click on > mailto:COPYRIGHT-L-request@rootsweb.com?subject=unsubscribe (list mode) or > mailto:COPYRIGHT-D-request@rootsweb.com?subject=unsubscribe (digest mode) - > Contact COPYRIGHT-admin@rootsweb.com for list related problems. For the > COPYRIGHT-L archives, go to http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/copyright. > > ============================== > New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors at > the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: > http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour.aspx?sourceid=14599&targetid=5429 > > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.10.1/391 - Release Date: 7/18/2006 > >