Re: privileged communication

Whether a particular communication is privileged depends upon who is communicating (including both the writer/speaker and the recipients) and what they are discussing, not how they discuss it. For example, communications about spiritual matters between doctors and their patients are privileged, whether done in person, by phone, through the mail, by carrier pigeon or via email. Whether the communication takes place over the internet has nothing to do with whether it is privileged. Being carried out online neither creates a privilege that would not exist otherwise nor destroys one that would.

Postings to internet groups would only be privileged if all members of the group were within the privilege. This generally would not be the case, especially if membership in the group is open to the public. It is possible for a private group's postings to be privileged, though. For example, multiple plaintiffs in a large lawsuit and their lawyers might set up a group in which to discuss their case; such postings would presumptively fall within the attorney-client privilege.