“Forwarding email is a crime”

Falwell’s argument is internally inconsistent. On the one hand, he accuses the article of lies. On the other hand, he says that the e-mails which form the basis of the article are his property, which means he acknowledges that they are genuine. (If they were fakes, he could not claim to own them.)

When it comes to the legal basis of Falwell’s argument, an expert the AP spoke with called Falwell’s assertions “totally insane.” 

NOTE: forwarding an e-mail could be criminal for some reason other than personal ownership or copyright. It could be construed as an act pursuing a criminal conspiracy; it could violate privilege; it could offer information on insider trading, etc. In that regard, it is no different from any other form of communication, and there is no precedent to claim that you own your communication, written or spoken. Falwell’s argument is tantamount to saying, “You can’t quote what I said to you, because I own those words.”

5 thoughts on ““Forwarding email is a crime”

  1. One day shortly after the Second World War ended, Winston Churchill and the newly elected Labour Party Prime Minister Clement Attlee encountered one another at the urinals in the House of Commons men’s washroom. Attlee had arrived first, and was standing at one of the stalls closest to the door.
    Although Attlee was the only other man in the room, Churchill entered and walked to the farthest urinal — ten or twelve stalls away from Attlee. With a smug grin, Attlee said, “Feeling standoffish today, are we, Winston?”
    Churchill replied: “That’s right. Every time you see something this big, you want to nationalize it.
    Martin Gilbert’s and lots of other places. Greatest man of the last century in my book, but will accept votes for Einstein.

  2. Where you been? The OB’s main man on the “Religious” Right for years now. President of Liberty U (though not a rev).
    Wrote a singularly ludicrous op-ed article in the WSJ in 16 calling the OB “Churchillian”. Think of it: The master of the Tweet vs the master of practically every word he ever laid his hands on.

    1. I can see the connection. Both men are famed for the size of their vocabularies.

      And of course, their penises.

  3. There’s a Jerry Falwell JUNIOR now?! Why do we need one of those? Is he going to be around for decades making God look bad like his father did?

Comments are closed.