Chuck and List,
 
At least at one time, a few people subscribing to this List had some training in law.  But most of us do not. Perhaps the members of the List aren't well situated to opine on the type of ethical issue you raise.  (Although the List certainly had a lot of discussion a couple of years ago about the French researcher and the map!)   It sounds to me as if you are considering ways to give other archivists a heads up about this particular researcher.  Is there a way to do that safely?  I don't know.
 
Do you have a reliable legal department to which you can turn in your organization to discuss how or if you could talk about this situation in a public forum such as this List?  (I know, I know, in a worst case scenario, an institution's lawyers might seem to focus on meeting the needs of the person perceived to have the most clout, rather than considering the positions of working level staff.  They might even take actions that harm or undermine working level staff <sigh>.  But a good lawyer should be able to provide advice that protects the institution as a corporate client, without undermining or ignoring the ethical quandaries raised by staff.)
 
The question of what to say publicly sometimes comes up on the Recmgmt-L listserv, where people often deal with various vendors and wonder about what to say to their peers in the records management community. (I'm glad I don't have to worry about stuff like that, I don't envy the records manaters!)   Here's just one small sample of the type of debate that has occurred there on the subject of potential libel:
 
http://www.lists.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0101&L=RECMGMT-L&P=R7656&I=-3
or
http://shrinkster.com/g2m  
 
Take care,
 
Maarja
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