On Thu, 24 Jul 1997, Lynne L. Harrison wrote:
With certain exceptions, court proceedings are open to the public which is why one is able to read articles in newspapers about certain cases.
The only way that the IRS' leaking the Plea Agreement by sending email to individuals would constitute contempt of court is if there was a gag order.
At 02:06 PM 7/24/97 -0400, Ray Arachelian wrote:
A. It's unsolicited spam. B. The way they gathered the list of addresses is questionable, and likely off Jim's HD. If this is the case, can it be used to send the warning message?
In my personal opinion (IMPO - see Disclaimer below), 47 USC 227 is the closest statute that pertains to Question #1. The problem is that unsolicited email, per the statute's definition, refers to unsolicited commercial email. OTOH, if I were to email you privately, it would technically be unsolicited. If you replied and requested that I discontinue, and I persisted, then most states have laws governing/precluding my behavior. Question #2 is a thornier issue. As we know, we can get lists of email addresses from a variety of sources. The "missive" was neither slanderous nor untrue. Additionally, the beginning of the message described it as a press release. To allege that it was a "warning message", one would have to prove that, in fact, it was not a press release but, rather, it was meant to be a warning to the recipients. I question, however, if is proper/appropriate for a governmental entity to retrieve email addresses off of a computer involved in a criminal matter and use those addresses to send the type of message that was sent to a selected few? Unfortunately, I have no answer to this query. Do any other individuals have any thoughts concerning this issue? *********************************************************************** Lynne L. Harrison, Esq. | "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing Poughkeepsie, New York | sound they make as they fly by." http://www.dueprocess.com | - Douglas Adams *********************************************************************** DISCLAIMER: I am not your attorney; you are not my client. Accordingly, the above is *NOT* legal advice.