intecel

Just a quick question some of you may have some insight about...

My roommate just broke up with his girlfriend. A lot of their fighting was in their aim chat logs, and some of it was funny as hell, so he posted a few lines of it to our friend's message board.

Well, she somehow comes across it, and starts saying that it is violating her rights and all kinds of shit, threatening him unless he takes it down.

I'm wondering if there's anything illegal about posting personal chat logs online to a bulletin board if you're one of the people in the conversion. This was AIM chat through trillian (which keeps log files).

Cynthetiq

nothing illegal as far as I know....

logs are kept by schools, businesses, ISPs all for the sake of if it's needed for whatever reason.

You want something to be private... don't do it online.

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Jinn

IANAL, but I believe it depends on the state.. recording electronic communications is regarded the same as recording a phone conversation in most states. And in those states, most require that both parties be aware of the recording device. Very few do not have this requirement. However, she'd be very unlikely to find a lawyer to prosecute something so silly. -- A libel / slander suit might be more likely, if he continued to post alleged conversations.

It's murky, but I'd say he's about 90% safe.

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superiorrain

I can't see anything illegal with that, alots said on the internet about alot of people and i have never ever heard of anyone being sued for liable. Even in the case of major celebraties, where at least in england there is always a liable case of some sort every year due to what was published in the national press. The internet is a place for freedom of speech and first she would have to prove it was a conversation between them and then that he posted it. No lawyer would want to touch it, trust me a i know a few and have had many silly converstions with them about topics like this.

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intecel

Thanks for the info. He also wants to know something else... He was living with his ex-girlfriend, and she still has over $500 worth of stuff that she refuses to give back.

She has admitted through chat (logged) that she has these items, and they were purchased by him, not her. Can these logs be used in court to help have his items returned?

maleficent

doubtful because those logs are pretty much text files.. and can be edited very easily.

'scuse me while I bitch a bit - he shudda thought about getting his stuff back before he decided to make public private conversations.. I'm a pretty ethical person, but if someone did that to me - i'd consider it the cost of doing business and not return it.

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Jinn

They can be used, as a civil suit doesn't provide a presumption of innocence. If he presented the logs, she would have to demonstrate to the court that they were NOT valid, not vice versa. However -- the judge could also refuse to admit the evidence, due to its (as mal pointed out) ability to be easily modified.

If you've ever watched a civil court proceeding go down, its not going to be worth the $500 worth of stuff he's missing. His only easy way to get it back is to (a) make amends long enough to take them back, (b) trick her into giving them back, (c) steal them back.

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"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel