[OT] Re: IBM T30 and thermal problems

[Andy Sparrow]

> > There was a post made -  subject line - by an individual outside of IBM
> > that did not have the authorization to do so.
> > 
> > The information is IBM Confidential and needs to be removed.
> > 
> > Please have someone contact me ASAP to discuss and to confirm that it has
> > been removed.
> > 
> > Thanks.
> 
> The post was made at Fri Jun 6 16:47:48 PDT 2003 - more than a year ago...
> Do you really think you can ban this post from a web based archive after
> the whole world has mirrored it? Do you have the "delete_from_internet"
> button on your keyboard? :-)

Hmmm. It seems that he does...

The mailing list archive on FreeBSD.org now has XXXX's of the quote 
contained in the original post, (although Google still has the original 
cached for the time being), not to mention the many 1000's of copies 
probably still on individual hard drives belonging to people subscribed 
to the list at the time.

Whilst I have a lot of respect for IBM generally (my impression being 
that they still do lots of pure research to advance the art, and, if any 
other company held the patents they did, the entire industry would have 
been non-viable - IIRC, they hold a patent to display a character on a 
computer display), this is kind of silly - not to mention sinister.

If it was IBM confidential, then it shouldn't have been sent outside IBM 
at all in the first place. Whilst netiquette says you don't re-post 
private email to a list/group, this is always a danger with people you 
don't know/who don't know netiquette/ignore netiquette.

IANAL, but surely, once it was disclosed outside IBM then, if not 
covered by any NDA or prior legal agreement, then it's been disclosed by 
IBM - albeit inadvertantly or carelessly? Isn't this the same scenario 
as making ill-advised statements in public and you're then stuck with 
the consequences?

Whilst I think I appreciate why the archive folks complied with the 
request (FreeBSD != EFF), it's the re-writing/censorship of history that 
bothers me.

We're at war with EurAsia/EurAsia has alway been our friends. We love 
you Big Brother!

Apologies for going off-topic.