Written for the Moment

Abstract

This article argues that the disclosure, dissemination, sale, and publication of text - such as text messages, e-mail's, and letters - addressed to anyone other than the public at large are gravely and profoundly immoral. The argument has two main strands, the first based on a conception of privacy largely due to Davis (2009) (but also to an earlier paper by Alfino), and the second based on the concept of authorial autonomy and its reverse, authorial dilution. The paper is an intersection between its main concern, ethics, and a secondary concern, the law keeping pace with ethics, specifically the law of copyright and the law of privacy.