I sent them a letter asking nicely for them to please remove an email that some *** posted 3 years ago. I received a letter saying the following
On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 11:21 AM, Blair Scott, American Atheists wrote:
“Mr. Hart:
After consultation with our attorneys, we have decided to disregard your request to take down your hate mail to our organization, and specifically to Mr. Edwin Kagin. Email is not confidential. Your hate mail deserves to see the light of day and we are glad to do just that.
In reason,
Blair Scott
Communications Director, American Atheists, Inc.
Email: alabamaatheist@gmail.com
Office: (256) 701-6265
Cell: (256) 503-1123
Board Member | National Affiliate Director | Alabama State Director | Social Networking Coordinator for American Atheists, Inc.
Moderator, NoGodBlog, official blog of American Atheists, Inc.
Staff Writer, American Atheist Magazine
American Atheists on Facebook, American Atheists on Twitter, American Atheists on MySpace
See Also: AlabamaAtheist.Org, My Facebook, YouTube, NAFA (Huntsville, AL)
American Atheists is a nationwide movement which defends the civil rights of nonbelievers, works for the separation of church and state, and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy. American Atheists, Inc. PO Box 158, Cranford, NJ 07016, Tel: (908) 276-7300 Fax: (908) 276-7402
On 1/20/2011 10:03 PM, American Atheists wrote:
This message was sent January 20,2011 from atheists.org/contact
Name: Thomas Hart
Email: t.hart@live.com
Please remove my message. This email was sent with confidentiality in mind. Thank you
http://www.atheists.org/orphans/Hate_Mail
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Is there anyway I can force them to take it down?
Categorized | Featured Articles
American Atheist Wiil Not Take Down My Info?
Posted on January 24, 2011.
So you’re saying that you didn’t send the email? It’s not clear.
no. You really can’t.
No right to privacy from where I sit.
You need legal advice, not guesses from us. It will not be free. So, how badly do you want this email taken down?
Maybe you shouldn’t send things you’re ashamed of in the future.
No – you have no expectation of privacy when sending an email to such an organization.
You sent them a letter. When you did that it became their property. You had no reasonable assumption of privacy.
I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but unless you didn’t actually WRITE the hate e-mail, you have no more “right” to have it taken down than you would to go to someone’s house and rifle through their belongings to find a letter you once wrote them that contains words you now regret saying! As their lawyer already told you, e-mail is not confidential (any more than words written on the back of a postcard sent through the Postal System could be regarded as “confidential”).
Words have meaning. Once you have said them in a public forum, there is no way to “take them back”…
You don’t give enough details here to be certain, but my guess is that you are not sharing the whole story….did you perhaps threaten some action if they DIDN’T “take it down”?
You should sue. You will lose, but will get the American Atheists some GREAT publicity!
FOR ANYONE INTERESTED, HERE IS THE MAIN CONTENT OF THE E-MAIL MR. THOMAS HART SENT TO AMERICAN ATHEIST, AND NOW WISHES HE HADN’T;
“Evolution is not fact! It is not even science! It cannot stand up to the first two laws of Thermodynamics and the process has only been theorized, but never proved. As a propaganda device devised by those who rejected God while seeking human answers for man’s origin, it’s a classic. Humanistic evolution is a religion and I agree that it needs to be expelled from school.”
You sir, are entitled absolutely to your opinions, but you are NOT entitled to have evidence of them “expunged” after they come to light an cause you embarrassment!
E-mails in general are not confidential. If you wrote them an e-mail, it’s no different than if you had sent a snail-mail letter. They can do what they please with the contents of the e-mail. Now, if they have posted personal information about you (e.g., home address, phone number, etc.) then you MAY be able to get them to redact that personal information, especially if you have received harassing contacts as a result. But there’s nothing you can do about them posting the contents of the e-mail, or your name in association with the e-mail if you wrote it.
Email is as confidential as written mail is. Once you send it and the other party receives it, it is now their property to do with as they please. The only exception would be if you had an agreement BEFORE you sent the email that it would remain confidential.