How Email Became Evidence Mail

from the cockroaches-of-mass-communication dept

Perfect timing. Just as CSFB finally put Frank Quattrone on the shelf due to some of his email messages, Fortune has a long article talking about how email has become "evidence mail" for many lawyers involved with corporate cases. As good as email has been as a communication tool in the office, it's also been an embarassment for many companies in the court room. While most stories show how email has come back to haunt companies, however, this article also has some stories of email coming back to save companies from claims against them. The most interesting thing to me, though, is that most companies that have policies concerning email are focused on getting the "don't say anything stupid over email" message across. Doesn't it make more sense to just tell people not to do anything stupid? As the article points out, the attitude is almost, "I don't care what you think, just don't say it in email." Of course, in the end, all of these policies won't matter, as people will shift to instant messaging software anyway, and we'll have companies with new IM policies to deal with as well. The article also has some comparisons to the way business people first looked at the telephone - where some wouldn't do business over the telephone since there was no written record.