Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Has disclaimer helped?

My company has introduced a rule which asks us to have a disclaimer to all the mails we send to people outside the company. The diclaimer is a 3 paragraph statement. Even with a font size of 8, the space occupied is pretty huge. When I send a 2 line mail to my friend outside, the size of the mail increases just because of the signature. When there is a conversation, 80% of the size is the disclaimer. Imagine if that friend also has such a disclaimer, then to read the mail is a pain.

Whatz the purpose of disclaimer? My opinion is not always the company's opinion. So when I mail some personal opinion from my company mail id, the company cannot be held responsible for my writing. Also if by mistake, the mail reaches somebody who is not supposed to receive it, he\she cannot charge the company of spamming it. I dont know when this concept came into existance, but I feel 9-11 had a major role in popularising this. There were lot of mails going around where people wrote supporting the attack on USA. Companies wanted to play it safe...and rightly so.

What I wonder is, why the fear? Is there any case where the company was held responsible for an individual's opinion? Or is there any major reason which I am missing!?

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