Comments on: Stupid email disclaimers: don’t use them!

By: Things You Need To See - #5 — DanuPoyner.com

Things You Need To See - #5 — DanuPoyner.com — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:12:05 +0000

[...] Stupid Email Disclaimers: Don’t Use Them [...]

By: Matt Lewandowsky

Matt Lewandowsky — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:38:47 +0000

@Sean Carmody: Heh. Don’t forget: “This message will self-destruct in ten seconds.”

@Carol Shepherd: Thanks for confirming something I’ve long suspected. I’ve always meant to email a lawyer to ask, but it turns out that most have mail servers that include a disclaimer. (Though, gratefully, usually along the lines of “This message was sent insecurely and does not constitute legal advice; for advice, please use our secure email service.” Which makes me wonder, what IS “secure email”? Non-net-connected webmail? PGP-signed? Something else?)

By: Sean Carmody

Sean Carmody — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:11:35 +0000

Excellent! Now I will work on getting our corporate IT guys to change the automated disclaimer to the following.

IANAL. YMMV.

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:28:55 +0000

@Carol Shepherd: Thanks for that comment. (I’ve edited it slightly to make the link neater.) It’s always good to know that one’s non-lawyerly gut feeling is backed up by people with a clue. Plus it’s also good to see an example of how to use blog comments well to promote your business!

By: Carol Shepherd

Carol Shepherd — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:36:31 +0000

@platypus, you’re absolutely right that email disclaimers do not reduce anybody’s duty of care, which is based upon things wholly outside of self-serving communications.

There are legitimate reasons for email disclaimers, although easily 95% of the disclaimers that people use do not fall within the legitimate reasons. They can be used to signal that a claim of privilege is not available, as in:

“I am not your freakin’ lawyer so don’t even think that this auto-reply to your website inquiry constitutes legal advice.”

They can also be used in cases where a contract requires parties to exchange confidential communications, where the communications have to be marked ‘confidential’ in order for a claim of trade secrecy or proprietary rights to apply. (In other words, if you send us your stuff and you don’t mark it properly, we can apply for a patent on it.)

I have a blog post on this. My Fortune 500 clients always ask me about these things; they’re always using them.

I’m thinking about opening an annual award for the longest and most ridiculous email disclaimers.

Carol Shepherd, Attorney
Arborlaw PLC

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:54:11 +0000

I might starting responding to emails with a disclaimer saying they don’t count as “real” with something to the effect that I won’t act upon anything until responsibility is taken.

By: Stephen Stockwell

Stephen Stockwell — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:27:40 +0000

@Snarky Platypus: Precisely.
Otherwise we’d be able to disclaim murder for the fact we’d somehow managed to hoodwink the victim into thinking it was just and necessary. An extreme example, but valid.

By: Snarky Platypus

Snarky Platypus — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:05:54 +0000

One of the first things they taught us in a introductory Business Law course I did at uni is that disclaimers do not reduce anybody’s duty of care.

They’re more of a deterrent than anything else. Most people with little to no knowledge in this area would be scared off by a wanky disclaimer.

By: Anastasia

Anastasia — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:04:42 +0000

I could tell you stories… at work, these disclaimers are a way of life (as I imagine they are, although I’m not there). The other hilarious thing (together with the disclaimer) was another disclaimer saying something to the effect of “the above information may not be accurate, we are not responsible for the accuracy within this letter”. The letters? Your average telco responses to other service providers. And then if the service provider returned with a complaint or pointed out a specific error, it would be the second round: denial letter, with the same disclaimer. Ya gotta love Telstra; bless their little cotton socks.

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:18:01 +0000

@Sweet Sister Morphine and @Matthew Smith: Thanks for the support. We must continue the struggle.

By: Matthew Smith

Matthew Smith — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:23:07 +0000

Right on brother, preach it!

Disclaimer: This comment is intended for the recipient only, if you are not a reader of this blog then please switch off your computer and notify the author. Please do not reproduce this comment or show it to a third party unless you have written consent to do so. Any views or opinions expressed in this comment are not the views or opinions of the author or the author’s employer or the author’s employer’s customers unless you really agree with them and happen to be a customer in which case the author’s employer is 100% percent behind them as long as things don’t turn sour.

By: Sweet Sister Morphine

Sweet Sister Morphine — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:33:47 +0000

From the ’stupid disclaimers’ site:
“Notice: Unless you are named “Arnold P. Fasnock”, you may read only the “odd numbered words” (every other word beginning with the first) of the message above. If you have violated that, then you hereby owe the sender 10 GBP for each even numbered word you have read.”

I am so putting this on my email sig.