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Dutch Case Says Email Harvesting Illegal
leomekenkamp writes "According to the /. readers there is probably something good as well as something bad in what a Dutch judge had to say in the case of E-mailgids versus NTS: NTS was convicted of illegally harvesting e-mail addresses for spam purposes from the e-mailgids site. According to the judge NTS was guilty because they did not act according to the terms of usage that are on the e-mailgids site, but were bound to them, even though they did not specifically have to click an 'I agree'; the terms of use are clearly mentioned on the main index page, and that was enough for the judge. Unfortunately all links are in Dutch..."
Depends on if that is how the legal system works in the Netherlands. I know in the USA you build your legal system on precedents, each case affecting all future cases. In Sweden, not so; everything not mentioned as illegal in the criminal code is legal. You also can't change the criminal code to affect current cases if you notice you missed something.
Civil code is another matter of course, but still be careful not think of the dutch legal system as something exactly the same as the american one.
Anyone know how the legal system in the Netherlands handles precedents?
it handles those the american way, however that's not the whole story. the court actually looks at what seems reasonable (to the dutch court) for the situation, so if you are going to use information on a website for commercial activities, you ask if you are allowed first (and would have found the EULA).
where for those click through EULAs they might well rule that since everyone knows you get nowhere without clicking on i agree, so it is reasonable that you didn't actually read it! (hasn't been in court yey afaik)
Just for the record, Holland != The Netherlands; 'Holland' is just a name for 2 provinces: North & South Holland. The Netherlands are made up of 12 provinces.
Back on topic: yes, if you are in The Netherlands and you are using a Dutch website (thus implying that you know Dutch), you are bound by Dutch law, that's no surprise. If you used the site without knowing any Dutch (which is technically possible) the judge would have taken that into account also. Dutch judges are far from brain-dead;
However (to abuse your example) if you were here in NL and visited a Dutch website for a Dutch car dealer which stated in it's click-through that by using that site you are bound in contract to buy a car there would not hold up in court. No court here in NL. No judge here would _ever_ find such a contract valid.
And you know why? Because when you visit a site one might reasonally expect NOT to be forced into buying something just by visiting that site. That is simply rediculous, and the judge knows it. Disallowing harvesting email addresses and using them for non-personal purposes is ethically, morally and law-technically perfectly normal, and a judge here takes that into account.
Wenn ist das Nunstueck git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput.
I've translated some of the terms of use, see below.
Door uw gegevens aan de E-mailgids toe te voegen, gaat
u ermee akkoord dat deze via de E-mailgids te vinden zullen
zijn.
By adding your data to the E-mailguide, you agree this data
will be searchable through E-Mailguide.
De gegevens in de E-mailgids mogen uitsluitend worden
gebruikt voor het verzenden van enkelvoudige berichten. Het
gelijktijdig verzenden van al dan niet commerciële
berichten aan meer dan een adres - mailingen - is expliciet
niet toegestaan, zulks op straffe van een dwangsom van Hfl.
1000,- per overtreding, waarbij elk bericht in een
geconstateerde mailing als een individuele overtreding
gezien zal worden.
The data in the E-mailguide can exclusively be used for
sending single messages. Sending multiple messages of
either a commercial nature, or not, to more than one
address (mailing), is explicitly forbidden, punishable by
the sum of 1000 guilders per violation, where each message
in an acknowledged mailing will be seen as an individual
violation.
Ook is het niet toegestaan om gegevens uit de
E-mailgids over te nemen in andere gegevensverzamelingen,
tenzij voor eigen gebruik. Middels een aantal
controle-adressen in de E-mailgids zal toezicht worden
gehouden op het naleven van deze voorwaarden. Overtreders
zullen binnen en buiten rechte worden vervolgd.
It is also forbibben to transfer data from E-mailguide into
other databases, except for personal use. By use of a
number of control-addresses in E-mailguide, adherence to
these rules will be checked. Violators will be procecuted
within and without the law.