What you can do about legalese nonsense on email (was: How to split value where is comma ?)

[Steve D'Aprano]

On Fri, 9 Sep 2016 08:13 am, Grant Edwards wrote:

> After all, that boilerplate just makes the corporation look stupid and
> incompetent.  

I wish that were true.

Unfortunately, in the corporate world, it *doesn't* make them look stupid
and incompetent. It makes them look conventional, careful, diligent and
responsible, and depending on how it is worded, perhaps even a little
scary:

    "We say that we care about the confidentiality of what we do. Don't
    mess with us, because we have a lawyer and aren't afraid to use it!"

To a certain type of mindset, failure to include that boilerplate would look
stupid and incompetent. Even if it is a legal bluff, it may discourage some
people from misusing the email or forwarding it on, a bit like the legal
equivalent of fake security cameras that look like the real thing but don't
actually work.

And I doubt it is being driven by lawyers, who surely know how dubious this
is. Its not lawyers who insist on adding restraint of trade and non-compete
clauses that they know won't stand up in court, and I doubt it is lawyers
insisting on this boiler plate. But then lawyers will also know that
there's no (legal) harm done by including the message: within fairly broad
limits, they can *say* anything they like.

    "If you are not the intended recipient, stop reading immediately and
    seek medical attention. If you read this email without approval, you
    will suffer a severe and irreversible brain embolism."

And besides, I wouldn't be *entirely* sure that it is nothing but a bluff,
particularly when wealthy corporations are involved. Privacy and
confidentiality are intangibles where the result can depend on all sorts of
factors, such as how deep the pockets of the plaintiff are, and whether the
government of the day wants to defend or attack freedom of speech and/or
privacy. Or even outright legal fraud, which is how we got corporations
considered to be legal persons.



-- 
Steve
“Cheer up,” they said, “things could be worse.” So I cheered up, and sure
enough, things got worse.