

23 Things Not To Write In An E-mail - moserware
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/06/14/127829646/23-things-not-to-say-in-an-email

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patio11
23 words to not write in an email:

 _I can't return the prototype. We're getting too many pageviews. Sorry for
damaging your business. Can the CEO or legal acknowledge it's yours?_

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viraptor
I liked the idea of searching for "between you and me" and "don't share"...
that's basically the same strategy people used for some time when searching
google for hidden stuff (try pdfs with "for internal distribution only" for
example)

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InclinedPlane
Wow, I have to disagree with the very premise here. If you think that it's
better to avoid creating "incriminating" emails then go ahead and censor
yourself.

If instead you think it's more important to actually try fixing problems, to
shine light on poor decisions, to give a voice to reason and sanity, to stand
in the way of negligence and malfeasance before it happens, then by all means
ignore this article's "advice" as much as possible.

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JacobAldridge
Plus, many of these phrases can be used to avoid incriminating yourself.

"I'm uncomfortable using the very sensitive and highly confidential
information in this manner, and therefore refuse to do so." That's probably
incriminating for the company, but if they're asking you to break the law or
be unethical you need to demonstrate your disagreement lest you be brought
down with them.

Plus, that does what InclinedPlane says about actually trying to fix problems
in advance.

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eoin_murphy
My personal fear with emails to clients and co-workers is instead of

Regards, Eoin Murphy

typing

Retards, Eoin Murphy

Insulting, simple to do (g-t keys right next to each other) and the spell
checker wouldn't catch it.

As regards the danger words; if you find that your're typing a lot of them, it
may be a good idea to reconsider your career choices.

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johnswamps
The title is misleading. The article is about what not to write in an e-mail
if you want to minimize the chance of the e-mail being discovered by law
enforcement if you/your company ever end up in court.

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julius_geezer
What, no "burn after reading"?

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seiji
I don't remember exactly when "e-discovery" became popular, but I've never
agreed with "Every e-mail you write could wind up in court. Everybody knows
this, but people still act like it will never happen to them."

email is fake. It can be faked. It can be forged. It isn't a legal record, but
people treat it that way.

~~~
btilly
You may not agree with it, but it is true. Email is far from perfect, but it
is no worse than, for instance, a typewritten letter.

As for the other problems, they have a tried and true solution. You take the
author of the putative email, sit them down in the witness box, and ask them
point blank if they wrote said email. If they admit to it, it is now perfectly
good solid legal evidence. If they say they did not, it now becomes a question
about whether the witness is committing perjury. And given the email trail,
and given what other witnesses have said, the truth does tend to out.

So, imperfections notwithstanding, every email you write could wind up in
court. Furthermore, imperfections still notwithstanding, an email trail can
easily become very valuable evidence. Particularly in civil trials where the
standard of evidence is much lower.

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rubashov
If I was a CTO or legal counsel at bigcorp I'd say we're going to POP3 and
everyone's email lives on their hard drives. Given the risks, I don't
understand why companies keep around big, easily subpoena-able email
databases.

~~~
huhtenberg
> _why companies keep around big, easily subpoena-able email databases._

Because in many jurisdictions it is required by law.

(edit) For publicly traded companies that is.

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rubashov
Maybe for certain business activity, like I dunno, HIPAA related stuff. But
I'd be shocked if there are any statutes requiring email retention across an
entire organization.

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tpiddy
i dont know the specifics but i'm fairly sure sarbanes oxley specifies that
emails should be retained within their document retention guidelines.

~~~
rubashov
I really doubt sarbox says anything about email.

