Many e-mails I receive today are suffixed with some sort of disclaimer. Often these admonishments are longer than the relevant content of the message itself:
The information in this electronic mail (“e-mail”) message may contain information that is confidential and/or privileged, or may otherwise be protected by work product or other legal rules. It is solely for the use of the individual(s) or the entity (ies) originally intended. Access to this electronic mail message by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that any unauthorized review, disclosure, copying, distribution or use of this information, or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. Please notify the sender immediately if you have received this electronic message by mistake, and destroy all copies of the original message.
The sender believes that this e-mail and any attachments were free of any virus, worm, Trojan horse, malicious code and/or other contaminants when sent. E-mail transmissions cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free, so this message and its attachments could have been infected, corrupted or made incomplete during transmission. By reading the message and opening any attachments, the recipient accepts full responsibility for any viruses or other defects that may arise, and for taking remedial action relating to such viruses and other defects. Neither xyz Corporation nor any of its affiliated entities is liable for any loss or damage arising in any way from, or for errors or omissions in the contents of, this message or its attachments.
There is a site dedicated to these scripts (http://www.emaildisclaimer.com) that provides an FAQ, relevant laws and some examples. Wiki offers a deconstruction of disclaimers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_disclaimer) noting they generally address such issues as: confidentiality; contracts; copyright and viruses.
While the legal protection is questionable, some industries may require some disclosures to be included as part of the message. There are sites that host lists of so-called stupid disclaimers (http://www.goldmark.org/jeff/stupid-disclaimers/list.html) but going through any more than a couple of them is very tiresome and in contraction to the normal practice of most readers of e-mail who just ignore them.
So with all that, I’m considering my own disclaimer:
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: The information transmitted, including attachments, is intended only for the person(s) or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and destroy any copies of this information.
IMPORTANT: This email is intended for the use of the individual addressee(s) named above and may contain information that is confidential, privileged or unsuitable for overly sensitive persons with low self-esteem, no sense of humour or irrational religious beliefs. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email is not authorised (either explicitly or implicitly) and constitutes an irritating social faux pas.
CAUTION: Unless the word absquatulation has been used in its correct context somewhere other than in this warning, it does not have any legal or grammatical use and may be ignored. No animals were harmed in the transmission of this email, although the kelpie next door is living on borrowed time, let me tell you. Those of you with an overwhelming fear of the unknown will be gratified to learn that there is no hidden message revealed by reading this warning backwards, so just ignore that Alert Notice from Microsoft.
ANTIDOTE: However, by pouring a complete circle of salt around yourself and your computer you can ensure that no harm befalls you and your pets. If you have received this email in error, please add some nutmeg and egg whites, whisk and place in a warm oven for 40 minutes.
— http://www.ist.rit.edu/~jxs/emailDisclaimer.html
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