On Thu, Sep 17, 2015 at 3:18 PM, Simon Slavin <slavins at bigfraud.org> wrote:
> > On 17 Sep 2015, at 8:27pm, R.Smith <rsmith at rsweb.co.za> wrote: > > > On 2015-09-17 07:19 PM, Jim Boyce wrote: > >> DISCLAIMER "This email and its attachments may contain privileged > and/or confidential information//... > > > > It might also not contain anything at all. > > Actually, under the laws of both the European Union and the United States > of America (no idea about South Africa) use of boilerplate text for > messages to people you don't have a contract with invalidates it. So use > for messages which will definitely be posted to the web (as all messages to > this mailing list are) automatically invalidate any force those words might > have. > > European Union law: Reciprocity of contracts requires a party to agree to > a contract to be bound by it. You can't send a message to someone which > magically enters them into an agreement. > > US law: Model Rule 1.06(c): Confidentiality of Information > "A lawyer shall make reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or > unauthorized disclosure of, or unauthorized access to, information relating > to the representation of a client." -- no "reasonable effort" if you > intentionally send the message to a public mailing list. > > Obligatory Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer in either jurisdiction. > I am not either, but it is so amazingly obvious that you are not bound by a contract that you are not a party to I can't imagine why they keep including it. I mean, I understand why they do it. String legal words together and attempt to intimidate people into bowing to your will. In reality they'd have a hard time enforcing it. If I ever received such a thing with any value attached, I might be tempted into contacting them and offering to be a party to their contract in exchange for appropriate compensation. :) It does not help that this boilerplate code is automatically added to every message through their corporation's mail servers, so it shows up whether or not there is sensitive information to be protected. That being said, RSmith's message was amusing. :) -- Scott Robison
