Re: Those Email Signatures

Has anyone ever seen a case in which a court considered the effect (or lack thereof) of a confidentiality notice? I am curious as to how the courts would deal with such notices.

kwg

>>> sjamar[_at_]law.howard.edu 02/17/04 01:55PM >>>
Mike,

Most people most of the time respect the wishes of others - and would treat the posted info with some respect - even if it is to a public list with a publicly-accessible archive. So the main value comes not from the law, but from the golden rule and respect for one another.

In addition, for some confidential communications, it may be a savings clause - if the person knows they got it by mistake - as you do. There could indeed be liability for republication of confidential or secret information you received by mistake.

Email is mostly secure for communicating information - because of the huge volume and lack of motivation to intercept it. And most of us are too busy as it is to bother targeting someone else's business. But there are arenas where people are indeed so targeted and some unscrupulous IT managers have intercepted and improperly read such email correspondence. (So it is a good idea to be on the good side of the IT folk - :-) )

There are always novices joining groups or just getting on email - and they don't yet fully appreciate the hazards and appropriate netiquette.

Finally, emails are copyrighted. And you can't reproduce and distribute them without infringing copyright, unless you have a fair-use exception or some other exception. I think on lists one has a fair amount of implied (and sometimes express) license to do more than with private communications. Some lists I'm on explicitly require as a condition of participation an agreement not to reproduce or redistribute with permission.

So these notices, while at times humorously overreaching perhaps, may serve useful functions both practically and legally.

Steve

• Mike Bradley <mbradley[_at_]techpubs.com> wrote:
  > My employer requires us to add one of those
  > don't-read-this-if-you're-not-the-recipient
  > signatures to our emails: "The
  > information in this e-mail is confidential and may
  > be legally privileged. It
  > is intended solely for the addressee. If you are not
  > the intended recipient
  > please delete and do not disclose to another person
  > or use, copy or forward
  > all or any of it in any form. Any views expressed in
  > this message are those
  > of the individual sender, except where the sender
  > specifically states them
  > to be the views of xxx."
  >
  > Do these have any legal weight? They seem pretty
  > silly to me. Insecure email
  > isn't the proper way to communicate confidential
  > information, and when I get
  > email that I shouldn't (my domain is similar to a
  > couple of other tech
  > writing firms), what's to prevent me from re-posting
  > it, sending it to a
  > journalist, or whatever, aside from personal
  > ethics--I haven't signed a
  > non-disclosure agreement.
  >
  > = Mike Bradley
  > www.techpubs.com
  

-- 
Prof. Steven D. Jamar                                     vox:  
202-806-8017
Howard University School of Law                           fax:  
202-806-8428
2900 Van Ness Street NW	                        
mailto:sjamar[_at_]law.howard.edu 
Washington, DC  20008           
http://www.law.howard.edu/faculty/pages/jamar 

"Years ago my mother used to say to me... 'In this world Elwood' ... 
She always used to call me Elwood... 'In this world Elwood, you must be 
Oh So Smart, or Oh So Pleasant.' Well for years I was smart -- I 
recommend pleasant.  You may qoute me." --Elwood P. Dowd

- Mary Chase, "Harvey", 1950


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