Yesterday Roger Matus posted the 10 Things Never To Put In Email, at his Death By Email blog. Here they are:
- “I could get into trouble for telling you this, but…”
- “Delete this email immediately.”
- “I really shouldn’t put this in writing.”
- “Don’t tell So-and-So.” Or, “Don’t send this to So-and-So.”
- “She/He/They will never find out.”
- “We’re going to do this differently than normal.”
- “I don’t think I am supposed to know this, but…”
- “I don’t want to discuss this in e-mail. Please give me a call.”
- “Don’t ask. You don’t want to know.”
- “Is this actually legal?”
Electronic documents are increasingly becoming an important aspect of all types of litigation, including criminal cases. But illegally accessing that information has also become a crime in and of itself – and a federal one at that. Thus, I’m working on a future post entitled, “101 Ways to Get Into Trouble Using Email.” In summary, it’s not a good idea to put anything in an email that you wouldn’t be comfortable having displayed to a panel of twelve jurors on a huge screen.
– John H. Bryan, West Virginia Attorney