Software Defined Networking

Sun Sep 6 20:39:17 UTC 2015

On Fri, Sep 04, 2015 at 06:59:36PM -0400, Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu wrote:
> Does anybody have a citation that legal disclaimers attached to
> publicly posted mail aren't null and void?  

Disclaimers are invalid on their face because they're an attempt
to unilaterally enforce contractual terms without a meeting of the
minds -- something required for a valid contract.  They're "adhesions",
i.e., they're provisions so one-sided that it's immediately obvious
that they've been dictated by one side and not agreed to by both
as the result of some kind of bargaining or negotiation.

The two best references I'm aware of in this regard are:

	Stupid E-mail Disclaimers and the Stupid Users that Use Them
	http://attrition.org/security/rants/z/disclaimers.html

Quoting in part:

	"We can't help it--this really makes us nuts. When will these
	people learn? You transmitted your crappy mind-numbing message
	to us, in plain text, over the public internet. It's ours (and
	whoever is sniffing our mail) to do with as we please and you
	can't have it back, so piss off. We won't delete it, we will
	publish it, we will forward it, and there is nothing you can do
	about it. Go ahead, take us to court, but try to find a shred
	of legal precedent first, ok?"

and:

	Don't Include Bogus Legalistic Boilerplate.
	http://www.river.com/users/share/etiquette/#legalistic

Quoting in part:

	"First, such boilerplate contains useless adhesions, meaning
	the explicit and implied threats they make are particularly
	annoying. If you send something via email, the recipients (are
	you sure you aren't sending to a mailing list?) and anyone else
	who sees your clear text postcard in transit can undetectably and
	with full deniability do whatever they want with the information
	written on it in plain view. Even casual users of email know
	email is not a secure communications medium. Thus the threats in
	typical bogus legalistic boilerplate are naught but an attempt
	at highly improper intimidation. Demands made in this manner
	will be regarded as evidence of a hostile attitude on your
	part by a significant portion of recipients. The threats will
	negatively affect how your recipients perceive the other ideas
	in your message."

---rsk