Earlier today I posted a news item from Canada about a lawsuit concerning Gmail and privacy. The complaint deals with the contents of e-mails sent to Gmail users by non-Gmail users being mined to deliver ads to the Gmail user.
If the lawsuit struck you as a good idea, you might want to read Eric Goldman’s comments on this issue. Gillian Shaw cites him in a follow-up news report, also in the Vancouver Sun:
Similar cases have been launched in the United States, where Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and director of the High Tech Law Institute, has characterized them as “are-you-kidding-me,” lawsuits.
“If electronic scrutiny of private email constitutes an interception then all anti-spam software violates that as well…the same probably with virus checkers,” Goldman said when I contacted him about the case filed yesterday in BC Supreme Court.
“In the US I consider similar lawsuits to be dead on arrival,” Goldman said. “They have no merit. I can’t speak to Canadian laws.”
Read more on Vancouver Sun.