[BNM] - Legal/copyright question

[Ian Betteridge]

On 23/7/09 14:46, "Max Williams" <toastkid.williams at gmail.com> wrote:

> that's what got me thinking - whether gmail was a more modern version of
> this.  Is the above actually legal proof of anything, anyway?  I always
> wondered if that was just a myth - it must be possible to fake.

Yeah, it's possible to fake - heck, if you can fake a painting then a
franked stamp and receipt is easy enough :) You can go further, though -
things like depositing work with a solicitor or bank to be kept in their
safe is harder to fake, for example.

It's a bit tricky to say whether it would be worth it. Copyright cases where
original authorship is disputed seem to be pretty rare except where work is
collaborative. More often, copyright cases (at least in the commercial
sector) hinge on whether rights were correctly assigned - for example,
someone using work they believed they owned, but which in fact they'd sold
to someone else. Depends on the potential value, I suspect.

>> 
>> 
>> Email would do the trick too, but might be seen by a court as easier to
>> fake, so could be weaker evidence that you'd created something (rather than
>> someone else creating it).
> 
> I'd argue it's less easy to fake, since google, who presumably would be
> viewed as an impartial third party, could look up the mail in their
> records.  

Yes, but that would depend on how detailed their records were, how long they
kept them, etc. It's a long time since I did any hackery, but POP used to be
pretty easy to spoof in various ways. I'd do some digging, but it sounds
like too much fun and will distract me from the dull stuff that I have to do
:)