The legality of posting other people’s e-mail addresses online
Oops: Should clarify that in this post, script writers doesn’t mean programmers, but people who write for movies etc.
Gerard Jones has a website where he’s posting contact info for publishing and movie industry people. He’s come under fire from Universal because he’s listing their e-mail addresses.
A lot has been said about this already, and I’ll just point you in the general direction:
Cinematical story 1, Cinematical story 2
Most of those who see this story, see it from the general public’s view. My perspective is different. I have an entertainment website. I get sent lots of requests from scriptwriters who want actors and other people to have a look at their scripts. And I have the unenviable task to tell these budding screenwriters their first dose of reality: Nobody wants your script. It doesn’t matter how wonderful it is, and how much it would outgross the top movies if given half a chance. There are too many scriptwriters and too many scripts in this world. Famous people get lobbied scripts from anyone and everyone they come across. From their gardener to their hair dresser. The easiest way to ensure you’ll never work with a celebrity again, is to try and hand him a script in person. Unless you’re already a famous moviemaker or someone the celebrity has a lot invested in. And even then, the movie should already be financed. Those are the magic words: Financed.
And it’s true what Universal says. They don’t accept submissions unless they come from an agent. That’s what the top agencies do. They put together script writers and producers. Sell them as packages. That’s how movies get made these days. I’ve seen cases that may have been legitimate, where newbie producers stole ideas and then got sued. It’s not worth it, so the really savvy players protect themselves by not accepting unsolicited scripts. Which means a steady stream of scripts by e-mail is a logistical and legal nightmare. I understand why they try to stop this, though I question their methods. I’m not sure they’ve picked their methods wisely.
So Gerard Jones is deceiving people, if his message is that people can e-mail or phone up people in the business and pitch projects. I haven’t checked if that is his message. Journalists sometimes sensationalize, so I won’t accuse him of being naive without cause.
But, there’s another issue here. Let’s overlook Universal’s clueless talk about spam for now. There are cases where you could talk about spam. I’ve seen scriptwriters sending form letters to in excess of 20 e-mail addresses in one go. That’s at the very least clueless, and probably what some of them do. In that context, I can understand why Universal are reminded of spam.
But the most important issue here is a third person listing e-mail addresses on the web, unmunged. It’s not just inconsiderate, it should be illegal.
There, I said it, it should be illegal!
We know that spambots prefer websites when they harvest addresses for spamruns, and for a website owner to post other people’s addresses that have absolutely no protection against spambots, is at the very least clueless, and at worst malicious.
I even munge e-mail addresses posted by other people on my entertainment forum. I edit their posts, even munged their own e-mail addresses. It’s either that, or fight a losing battle against the spambots. And even then it might not be enough.
So, the real issue for me is the posting of unprotected e-mail addresses on the web by third parties. Can we get some awareness going on that issue?
Update:
I should probably tell any budding scriptwriters who happen on this site that not everything is lost. A friend of mine has a good idea. He arranges readings of his scripts. It helps that he has lots of good actor friends, so he’s able to get them to help (they get exposure, he gets his scripts heard). Some do small independent films. Some film demos. Some do theatre productions. Some send their scripts to script competitions (watch out for scams, there are plenty of them). And you could do what Gerard Jones does: He becomes famous for something else, then leverages that fame. If he succeeds is another thing. But if he’s the typical entertainment types, he’s having the time of his life right now. They thrive on attention…
December 9th, 2005 at 12:24 pm
When I saw your update about budding scriptwriters I thought you were going to put a warning for the kind of script writers who are harvesting email addresses from websites. I never really realized it could have both meanings before. I guess I just always read it in context. Which in this case was an antispam site so it confused me.
December 9th, 2005 at 6:03 pm
Someone reposted just _one_ thing I posted to a Google group — but they didn’t hide my email address. Now my gmail account gets tons of spam, all from what seems to be the same Chinese-language spammer. I agree that reposting emails should have repercussions of some significance.