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Netiquette
Of Confidentiality
The following rules of netiquette concern Internet confidentiality:
Don't Publicize Other's Email Addresses
Don't distribute other people's email
addresses to strangers by email or
by posting messages to the Usenet newsgroups, unless the email is on a
public work and obviously
intended for distribution. Otherwise, you may be responsible for someone getting
spam email from commercial sites, and strange email from unwanted strangers.
Never Send What You Don't Read
Never forward an email you haven't read, or send someone an attachment you
haven't examined. Many people have been badly embarrassed by forgetting this rule,
and the email or attachment turned out to contain information they really shouldn't
have forwarded.
Remember Archiving
Remember that many mailing lists, newsgroups, and even some chat groups and
email systems archive information. If you aren't prepared to have your words archived
and recalled at a later time, then don't send the message. This is especially
important to remember if your message contains information about third parties.
Respect Copyright
It is easy to copy something from the Internet and put it
in an email or on a web page and give
the impression by mistake that it is your work. Always clearly identify the
author of work that is not your own.
Similarly, if you are forwarding or posting someone else's work, don't alter
or edit their words -- even to change what you may think of as mistakes. There
may be a reason or importance to a missing comma or misspelling, and you don't
want to be responsible for passing on false information. A small change can have
a large effect later that you may not realize at the time.