Is it legal to publish a message.

mondeoman72

Just wondering.

If person A sends person B a message on FB messenger, can B screen capture it and put it on the net?

Just curious.

Peregrinus

The copyright in the message belongs to Facebook, but they are unlikely — in the absence of unusual additional factors — to want to enforce their copyright.

If person A wanted to take action, there would need to be additional facts (perhaps to do with the context of the message, or the nature of the relationship between A and B) on which he could argue a right or expectation of confidentiality, or something of the kind.

If I write you a letter, in general you're free to show the letter to anyone you want. This is just a digital version of the same thing.

By way of example, if your bank sends you your bank statement, you're free to show that to anyone you want. But if you write to the bank about your financial situation, the bank must treat that as a matter of confidence. Both letters are sent in the context of a relationship which gives rise to a right/duty of confidence, but the right belongs to the customer, and the duty is owed by the bank. So the bank is under a duty of confidentiality which prevents it from publishing the correspondence; the customer is not.

Victor

"The copyright in the message belongs to Facebook" - surely the copyright belongs to the message sender and Facebook is merely licenced to use it for various purposes.

mondeoman72

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121200767#Comment_121200767

Interesting.

Put it another way. If Victor sends me a private message. Can I screencap it and put it on the net with this is what Victor said to me. (hypothetically of course)

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121200767#Comment_121200767

I think Facebook's standard terms and conditions — which you accept when you register as a member — say that you assign to them the copyright in anything you post to Facebook.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121202167#Comment_121202167

A lot will depend on what medium was used to send the message. Are you talking about PMs here on Boards?

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058316891/is-it-legal-to-publish-a-message

It depends on the rights of the person who posted the message, the rights of the host media company and the contents of the message and the intent and consequences of the message being posted. And of course the willingness of all rights holders or injured parties to take an action against the person who published the message. There is no simple answer.

GerardKeating

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121204864#Comment_121204864

Well, the OP specifically stated FB Messenger.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058316891/is-it-legal-to-publish-a-message

You "can" but if the post is defamatory, you might have "problems".

If the pm you post happended to be song lyrics, or covered by the offical secrets act, or hate speech, or, or, you might have other problems

Apiarist

If a message is of intimate matter, publishing it without your consent is a crime (up to 7 years in prison).