La posta elettronica come strumento di informazione e non come “arma impropria”

Abstract

The benefits to physicians of using the internet are known: most of the biomedical resources are available online and many of them are free. Besides, internet it is also a virtual community, where it is easy to contact specialists or to start a discussion on a medical forum. Anyway, also the web has its own rules of behaviour: the so called “netiquette”, that is to say code of conduct that governs behaviour on the internet. Even on the web a polite and adequate conduct should not be forgiven, to maintain confidentiality and privacy on discussion lists and e-mails, and to avoid legal consequences. This article gives some guidelines to improve the quality of discussions and communication on the internet, illustrating Sentences of the Italian Court concerning this topic.