Lucy Kellaway at her best again!
The contract I’m about to break is the one that sits at the bottom of almost every business e-mail. In simple terms, it says that if the e-mail isn’t addressed to you, you must delete it at once, notify the sender and not tell a soul. [...]
In European law it’s pretty much impossible to foist this sort of contract on someone unilaterally. Legal disclaimers on e-mails are not only unenforced but unenforceable – making one wonder why they are so popular. [...]
Rather than do as instructed [by such disclaimers], I have decided to follow the common law of the internet. This decrees that whenever you get a crass message, you must forward it to everyone in your address book, or post it on your blog, or, if you are fortunate to have such a thing, write about it in your newspaper column. In so doing, I am at least notifying the sender, though maybe not in the way his disclaimer intended.
More of this eminently sensible, characteristically witty piece here.
One often finds the same sort of hogwash, nonsense, drivel, bunkum -- pick your favourite descriptor -- inside some sealed packaged goods -- "If you open this package, you are deemed to have agreed to this contract, which you could only have seen if you had opened this package" -- and many business plans sent out by entrepreneurs or their advisors to VCs -- "By opening this document, you are deemed to have agreed to the following conditions and restrictions".
Lucy Kellaway calls email disclaimers crass. Guess this is one of those seemingly obvious things that yesterday's post didn't cover: please don't attempt the same crassness with someone you're asking to trust you with an investment.
And yes, of course, this applies to all emails and docs you send to just about anyone. I don't mean to imply that only VCs should be afforded such a courtesy.
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