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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