Posted By:
JoannI think everyone here is technically correct, but I think it's not quite as simple as saying public is public. Because, you know, there's public and then there's public!
I go to the bar with a group of friends - let's say 10 or so. We're in the main area, but still large enough to be kind of loud and laughing and how you are in this setting.
Clearly I would say things in this group, in this setting, that are not the kinds of things I'd say to just anybody or necessarily want broadcast. Just as clearly, I am in a public place so any passerby or person at a nearby table could very well hear what I say. But even though I am in public, I am probably not that concerned that a few strangers within earshot hear what I say. I have a fair sense of the room and the forum and the environment.
Now if one of these passerbys or nearby tables recorded a chunk of our conversation and laughing and carrying on saying whatever we were saying and had it broadcast over the radio? That's totally different. A much broader audience, and no longer within my control to fairly understand the nature and number of people that may now hear it.
This board is the same way. Yes, it is public. And we never do know who exactly is in the next booth. Still, there is a sense that we are a niche topic, maybe a bit off the beaten track as net traffic goes, and might think that we don't mind if whoever happens to stumble onto our corner of the world sees what we say.
Published on a NY Daily News blog? Whole 'nother thing.
Nothing technically wrong with it, and yep don't say anything in public that etc etc etc, and legally airtight - public is public. But it kind of fails the gut check with me - because there's public and then there's public.
J