This Post is Privileged and Confidential

This Blog Post is Privileged and Confidential...

But you're reading it anyway.

 

*** This e-mail does not create an attorney-client relationship. ***

 

*** Any tax advice in this e-mail is not intended to be used for the purpose of avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code. ***

 

*** This e-mail may contain Law Enforcement Sensitive information. ***

 

*** This e-mail contains information that may be exempt from public release under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552). If this e-mail is received in error, delete it and all attachments to it and notify the sender immediately. ***

 

*** This email may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. If it does, and you are not the intended recipient, then the sender hereby requests that you notify him of his mistake and destroy all copies in your possession. The sender also concedes that he is very, very stupid, and obviously should not be sending electronic-mail without supervision.***

E-mail disclaimers are mostly, legally speaking, pointless. Many disclaimers are, in effect, seeking to impose a contractual obligation unilaterally, and thus are unenforceable. In other words, email footers assert that a reader has consented to a contract based on mere receipt of the message. This is problematic because, as with any legally binding contract, both parties must agree to its terms. Simply opening or reading a message is not the same as approving what is inside. For this reason, typically email confidentiality warnings carry no legal weight.

Many organizations automatically append these sorts of disclaimers to every message sent from their e-mail servers, no matter how brief and trivial the message itself might be. Yet studies have shown that less than 10% of recipients who receive emails with disclaimers even read those disclaimers and warnings. 

When it comes down to it email disclaimers are pretty pointless. They fail to create a valid contract between sender and recipient. They are generally untested and unimpressive in court, too long, overused and no one reads them.

What You Should Do...

If you do choose to use email disclaimers, use them sparingly and place them at the beginning of your emails rather than the end. This way, recipients will actually see the disclaimer and might pay attention to it.

If your e-mail really does contain sensitive information it should be ENCRYPTED.

Do not place sensitive information in the body of an e-mail. If sensitive information must be sent by e-mail, place that information in a properly marked, password protected (encrypted) attachment and include the password in the confidentiality disclaimer, or better still send the password by an alternate means.

Look at the US government's guide to Marking Controlled Unclassified Information for some ideas on properly marking and handling controlled information.