Free speech advocates, don't get too hot and bothered about yesterday's ruling in the California courts in favor or Ken Hamidi's right to blitz Intel employees with caustic emails against his former employer. The court sidestepped the First Amendment issues raised by Hamidi's defense team and instead stuck to the central issue of whether or not his emails were the equivalent of trespassing on private property. Since they did not have any significant anti-social impact on Intel's email network, they saw no harm. In other words, unless your email harms the property into which it is sent, it's just a personal communication. Corporate mail administrators must be groaning in agony today, but it's great news for content providers using the public Internet as a marketing and delivery channel. The ability of content providers to communicate openly with individuals in institutions via the Internet has been one of the key factors driving its acceptance as a professional content medium. Hopefully this ruling helps to keep institutional firewalls open for spontaneous communications of all kinds.