Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Protect each others privacy when sending emails


We’ve all received emails, where our email address is “published” along with many others… You and I know immediately that the email was obviously sent to that entire group of people whether their address was in the TO or the CC line… This not only looks odd and unprofessional, it also exposes the email addresses of people who may have wanted to keep their email addresses private.. 

Then you have the issue of seeing layers and layers of email addresses when you receive jokes, stories and other “’forwards”.. 

We all have a responsibility to protect each other’s privacy and that includes email addresses… When sending an email to more than 1 person, but especially when you are sending an email to a group of people - always use the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) LINE for addresses – this means everyone will get the email, but they will not see each other email addresses – therefore protecting their privacy… 

None of us have the right to share someone else’s email address with anyone else... Bcc (Blind Carbon Copy): recipients get a copy of the email, but their email address is automatically deleted at delivery. Nobody except you and the Bcc: recipient will know that they got a copy, and their email address will not be exposed for everyone to see. 

In some email services when you have opened the Write/Compose screen to create a new email message, you will see the 3 Send to list options automatically: TO  CC (Carbon Copy)  – BCC (Blind Carbon Copy).. But in some services, such as hotmail, you may only see the TO – so when you want to use the BCC, Click Show Cc & Bcc (right above the To: line and to the right) which then adds these two options to your screen…. 

Remember once an email is sent, you and I have no idea who or what the sender will do with that email… so protect the privacy of your friend, family and co-workers.

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