E-mail disclaimer stimulates expletives

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: M. E. KABAY ON SECURITY
08/16/05
Today's focus: E-mail disclaimer stimulates expletives

Dear security.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* E-mail disclaimers that are longer than the actual message
* Links related to Security
* Featured reader resource
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Permeo Technologies
Protect Information with On-Demand Security

Protecting information beyond the borders of your enterprise
requires advanced solutions for enabling secure remote access.
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VOIP SECURITY THREATS: FACT OR FICTION?

Although it's difficult to find a company that has suffered at
the hands of VoIP abusers, viruses, spam and phishing have run
rampant on other IP-based communications systems. Will similar
threats find their way to VoIP? Find out what the experts say
and how should prepare your network against such potential
abuses. Click here:
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=110063
_______________________________________________________________

Today's focus: E-mail disclaimer stimulates expletives

By M. E. Kabay

I recently received a 30-word e-mail message from a very nice
reader in Britain and noticed that his e-mail system added the
following astonishing disclaimer, which I quote in its sonorous
totality after scrubbing it of identifying details:

"This email, its contents and any files or attachments
transmitted with it are intended solely for the addressee(s) and
may be legally privileged and/or confidential. Access by any
other party is unauthorised without the express written
permission of the sender.

"If you have received this email in error you may not copy or
use the contents, files, attachments or information in any way
nor disclose the same to any other person. Please destroy it and
contact the sender on the number printed above, via the <Name of
Bank> switchboard on +44 (0) nnnn nnnnnn for <place1> and + 44
(0) nnnn nnnnnn for <place2> or via email by return.

"Internet communications are not secure unless protected using
strong cryptography. This email has been prepared using
information believed by the author to be reliable and accurate,
but <Name of Bank> makes no warranty or representation, express
or implied, as to its accuracy or completeness and is not liable
to you or to anyone else for any loss or damage in connection
with any transmission sent by the Bank to you over the Internet.
<Name of Bank> makes no warranty that any information or
material is free from any defects or viruses.

"In particular <Name of Bank> does not accept responsibility for
changes made to this email after it was sent. If you suspect
that this email may have been amended or intercepted, please
contact the sender in the manner stated above. If this
transmission includes files or attachments, please ensure that
they are opened within the relevant application to ensure full
receipt. If you experience difficulties, please refer back to
the sender in the manner stated above.

"Any opinions expressed in this transmission are those of the
author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Bank
and may be subject to change without notice.

"Please note that for the purposes of this document all
references to <Name of Bank> or the Bank shall be taken to mean
<Name of Bank> (place) Limited or any other member of the
<Bigger> Bank Group. Nothing in this transmission shall or
shall be deemed to constitute an offer or acceptance of an offer
or otherwise have the effect of forming a contract by electronic
communication."

I commented in my response to my correspondent, "Did you know
that your message has 30 words (152 bytes including spaces)
whereas your disclaimer has 367 words (2177 bytes)? That's the
lowest signal-to-noise ratio (6.5% useful info out of the total
and a 72.6:1::noise:signal ratio) I've ever seen outside a
copy-of-copy-of-copy chain. Please congratulate your attorneys
on making maximal use of bandwidth!"

Really, this disclaimer does seem excessively detailed to me. If
the same level of legalistic caution were applied to phone
calls, it would make a wonderful Monty Python skit:

"OK then, I'll see you at lunch tomorrow."

"Yep, but wait - you have to listen to the automated legal
disclaimer our attorneys have programmed into our phone system.
Just hang on [buzz, click]. [metallic voice] This phone message
is intended solely for the recipient(s) and may be legally
privileged and/or...." [CLICK!]

Or what about introducing this degree of caution into
face-to-face interactions?

"So how do you want your hot-dog, with mustard and relish or
without?"

"With both, please. And this verbal instruction is intended
solely for the recipient(s) and may be legally privileged
and/or...."

On a more serious level, cluttering up e-mail messages this way
is a waste of bandwidth. It's worse in offices where people copy
entire messages without editing the contents, resulting in
copy-of-copy-of-copy chains that spread like cancerous eruptions
through inboxes throughout the organization. I have personally
seen messages that are 20 levels deep, all of them including the
headers, salutations, copies of previous messages and
disclaimers in a long string of garbage contributing nothing
whatever to enlightened discourse. Some well-meaning folks even
include the detailed headers in their copies.

As a matter of courtesy and good sense, when one replies to a
message, it's a simple matter to strip non-essentials out of the
copy of the original. I use ellipses ("..." for cuts within a
sentence, "...." for cuts crossing sentence boundaries) to
signal gaps, but usually one or two snips are enough to clean up
the copy so that the reader can get the gist of the conversation
without having to wade through reams of superfluous stuff.

So the next time you encounter a huge disclaimer laid like an
unsightly pile of refuse at the bottom of a colleague's e-mail
message, you can use a slightly modified British expression in
your response: "UNSTUFF IT!"

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Cisco to juice 6500 switch
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlsec5148>

2. Cisco to double Catalyst 6500 switch capacity in coming
months, report says
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlsecuritynewsal5108>

3. Test: CipherTrust tops encryption field
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlsec5149>

4. Microsoft tool to simplify Vista deployment
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlsec5150>

5. Future-proof your network
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlsecuritynewsal3482>

Today's most-forwarded story:

Cisco to juice 6500 switch
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlsec5151>
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: M. E. Kabay

M. E. Kabay, Ph.D., CISSP, is Associate Professor in the
Division of Business and Management at Norwich University in
Northfield, Vt. Mich can be reached by e-mail
<mailto:mkabay@norwich.edu> and his Web site
<http://www2.norwich.edu/mkabay/index.htm>.

New information assurance journal - Norwich University Journal
of Information Assurance (NUJIA). See
<http://nujia.norwich.edu/>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Permeo Technologies
Protect Information with On-Demand Security

Protecting information beyond the borders of your enterprise
requires advanced solutions for enabling secure remote access.
Read this Gartner report to learn how new on-demand security
technologies can securely extend your business to support
outsourced relationships, teleworking initiatives and other
remote access needs.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=110116
_______________________________________________________________
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as receive expert advice on how to implement an effective
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http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=110133
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FEATURED READER RESOURCE
HARD WORK, GOOD PAY

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