Curious About a Point of Law

A confidentiality note attached to unsolicited eMail

[luckychucky]

Let's say an attorney sends you a nastygram. He wants you to cease and desist or whatever. It's unsolicited incoming mail. You've entered into no prior agreements with this attorney or his client. He's mailing you, sending his venomous blather your way, unrequested.

At the bottom of his eMail he appends the following condition. Must you honor it?:

<<
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE
This message is intended only for the addressee. The information contained in this message is confidential, may be attorney-client privileged, and may constitute inside or non-public information under federal or state securities laws. Unauthorized use of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
>>

[lawman]

Attorneys have a habit of sticking that at the bottom of just about everything - including fax transmissions and emails. :)

No legal advice is permitted, but read the 1st and last sentences - that's your clue.

[BlobFisk]

Well, what if I put the following at the end of every email I send:

By reading any word fon this email, in fact, by just receiving this email you agree to pay BlobFisk £10 by the end of the week.

Now I'm no solicitor/lawyer, but would you honour that?

[Sanenet]

Missing the point here - it's a disclaimer, not a binding agreement. By putting that disclaimer at the bottom of his communication, anything you do with the information is your problem, not his.

[BlobFisk]

Stop trying to dodge paying me my £10.... ;)

[luckychucky]

anything you do with the information is your problem, not his

Maybe I'm thick in the head, sanenet, but I can't quite grasp what you mean. Care to elaborate?

[walkman]

hmmm....many lawyers do that to scare the little people. Smoking Gun posted them (forgot what case) and that lawyer never did anything. Notice how many times he uses the word "may". I can say that I may be a martian and still be correct.

[Teknorat]

Well it means if you then go and post information related to for example's sake, a sealed court case then the lawyer who sent you that info has done no wrong in the court's eyes.

[luckychucky]

OK, so he's protected himself from liability for his own leak. Going further, are you liable for the exposure of that same info? Are you, by his disclaimer, drafted into being the protector of his secrets, or is it all fair game after he drops it into your lap?

In other words, he's saying it's not his fault if you blow his client's secrets. But is it your obligation to keep them secure? Can he draft you into being his secrets-keeper after he sends you something you never even asked to receive?

[Teknorat]

Well (this is not legal advice and should not be treated as such) it depends. If the information is trade secrets you could be sued, if it's personal information you could be sued. You are not obliged to keep it secret but republishing it could result in civil action.

[lawman]

CAVEAT: Never rely on legal advice posted on the internet.

[Sanenet]

lawman - agreed!

Remember that there is a whole network of privacy, confidentiality, corporate data protection, etc, laws and that what the lawyer is saying is that it's your responsibility to comply with said laws, not his to make sure that you do. Basically, he's "releasing" the contents of his email into your hands.