Email disclaimers (such as the one above) have been a wildly popular tool for professionals to use when sending out sensitive information across the internet… but are they actually effective?
The simple answer is NO.
Not only are Disclaimers not enforceable in a court of law, but they’re also one of the least effective ways to “secure” your message.
Think about it this way: you attach an Email Disclaimer to the bottom of your sensitive message, you send the email out, but you realize that the recipient you’ve sent the message to is actually the wrong person. Once the recipient reads through the message, they get to the bottom of the email where your Disclaimer sits. At this point in time, the Disclaimer is all but useless because the message has already been read.
Your recipient can’t unread your sensitive message, regardless if they follow the Disclaimer’s instructions and inform you that the message had been sent by mistake.
Also, what if the recipient reads the sensitive message, but does not notify you that the information was sent by mistake? A majority of the time, you’ll never know that the message was seen by someone other than your intended recipient, which opens you up to the possibility of even greater repercussions.
