Confidentiality Statement

It has been talked about for some time now, but today was the day I was told to add a confidentiality statement to all of my electronic mail at work.

My feelings tend to go more along the lines of the ALARMED column entitled, "Don't Read This"
"Disclaim all you want. The fact is, most e-mail 'confidentiality notices' accomplish nothing." ("Alarmed" is a CIO Magazine biweekly column about security and privacy. New versions every other Thursday by Columnists Scott Berinato - sberinato@cio.com and Sarah D. Scalet - sscalet@cio.com).

I don't know how well they stand up in court, but I think if you really have to have one then just put it on the things that are confidential, not everything. We have functioned fine without them since at least 1996. My guess is that it alone is probably longer than 95 percent of the e-mails sent. Oh well.

Looking for a few Confidentiality Statements, Confidentiality Notices, Disclaimers, or whatever you prefer to call them, you might look here for a few examples.