I'm dealing with a headache here. Our mail server is getting bombarded with spam emails, and they all come with those annoying legal disclaimers saying, "this is a confidential email, do not redistribute or disclose any information." I work in a very legally focused profession, and I need to know— is there any law or legal ruling I can point out to those who ask about these emails? Can spam really label itself as confidential and prevent us from reporting it to IT to block it?
5 Answers
Confidentiality agreements need mutual consent to be enforceable. You can't just declare something confidential and expect it to stick unless there's a binding agreement with the recipient. So, no, spam can't just mark itself as confidential.
To validate any non-disclosure, there must be consideration involved. Did you get anything in return for keeping that spam under wraps? If it doesn't contain information that's regulated—like HIPAA or FERPA—then just report it!
Honestly, if you're in a legally aware field, shouldn't this be a basic guideline? Confidential info usually applies to the company, not to individual spam emails. Common sense says spam isn’t protected under confidentiality, but I could be wrong here.
Legally speaking, a sender can't impose restrictions on the recipient without prior agreement. If you send me an email without any deal, I can do what I want with it. Some companies put those disclaimers on every email they send—it's mostly just empty noise.
You mean "legally minded" as in they focus on law, or more like they're just cautious of any legal implications? Either way, you'll need to consider jurisdiction since advice can be super general otherwise. You might find this link helpful: Reason 1 from the article about annoying email confidentiality disclaimers.
Exactly! They know a lot about their specific legal areas but not as much about broader law. Thanks for the link!