Personally, I think if something is available on the internet in normal channels, then it is public at that point. It may have been private before.
Now - to add some weasel scenarios to the above -
Let's say someone publishes something on a website that the public can't get to, e.g., password or hidden from google, then that may not be public information. (I understand but don't know the particulars, that there are ways of hiding websites and sections from google and other search engines.)
Getting back to the charge, don't forget you're taking a piece out of a very long and boring document. The issue of what is the law as based on the trial and the issue of what will happen on appeal cannot be determined from a lone paragraph.
As you probably know by now, law is not precise. One of the reasons people hate lawyers, (yes, way down on the long list) is that they usually answer questions with "it depends." |
