ideas.time.com
We all receive emails sent only to us, and we send emails addressed only to one person. What if the person to whom you send an email goes ahead and forwards it to others, even though there is no indication that you wanted them to do so?
Do you think that this is OK? Do you thing that it is bad manners, or do you think it is illegal? The question is: Do you have an expectation of privacy when you send someone a personal email?
Here are some comments I found on the Internet regarding this issue:
1. The people you include in the “To” field should be the people you expect to read and respond to the message. The “CC” field should be used sparingly. You should only CC people who have a need to stay in the know. The “BCC” field should be used even more sparingly. People you include in the “BCC” field will not be visible to others.
2. if you are forwarding a private e-mail that was sent to you, you must get the sender’s permission to forward it on to others (or post it publicly). E-mails are copyright protected by their authors. Not only that, common courtesy dictates that you should ask the author first if the e-mail sent for your eyes only can be forwarded to strangers or others for which it was not originally intended.
Please comment below and note that your comments may be read by anyone in the world who has access to the internet
—Paul, Editor @Blogfinger
Editor’s note: Our policy on Blogfinger is that if you send us an email, we may publish it, UNLESS you ask us not to—then we will honor that request. You can find that rule in our “contact” page on top. Paul
I have an uncle who regularly sends out e-mails on topics from his cats to his political views. Was planning an 80th birthday party for him and had a light bulb experience – copy his distribution list and invite everyone. Fortunately only two people accepted but everyone knew his exact birthday and some sent a gift in his name to an animal shelter which is one of his favorite charities. At the party he asked how I figured out who is friends were I said e-mail!!
I, from the very beginning of email, never would put in an email anything I would not want to see on the front page of a newspaper even if I headlined it PERSONAL or FOR YOUR EYES ONLY or NOT FOR PUBLICATION.
Some may believe that paranoid, to me it is realistic, common sense.
I use snail mail for sensitive or personal stuff.
The Internet has changed everything. Posting personal messages on Facebook is like writing on the fence; you can plant a bush in front of the writing, but you can’t be sure that unintended readers will not read it.
Email has been with us longer, and some rules of courtesy may have evolved, but message writers should be wary. Non-personal messages such as jokes, recipes and the like are fair game for forwarding.
Personal messages need a writer’s request to “not forward.”
I think if you have something that “personal’ to communicate, you should encrypt the email message or take a pen to paper.