Emerging Enterprise Center Blog - Commentary and Analysis For Entrepreneurs and Startups

This is a theme to which I keep returning – email (and other electronic records) is forever. At this point everyone has a horror story about the email that got sent to the wrong person or that had some embarrassing statement. The observation that email seems to inspire people with a freedom to say – whatever, has been made so many times that it can’t possibly bear repeating, can it? Well, despite the well know phenomena of misdirected email, embarrassing statements and etc., all these email faux pas seem to continue unabated.... More

A friend suggested that I comment on a post Confessions of a Pack Rat (aka My Document Retention Policy).  Which I did, but then thought to recreate the comment as a post here because, retention (at least of emails) is a theme I come back to from time to time on my blog.  So, here goes: like diamonds, email (and all electronic copies of documents, letters, etc.) are forever. Unlike diamonds, everyone can afford to have them and keep them – and everyone does. If you really delete an email or an old draft of something, guess who will have it for sure: the... More

One theme that comes up from time to time in the press and in the practice of law (everyone has a horror story about it) is the errant email (the one you wish you had not sent).  To state the obvious, people have a tendency to put things in emails that they would never write in another context.  Mostly when you do this, the only bad thing that happens is modest embarrasment.  However, some emails have led to major problems for the sender becasue they can, and will, be used against you, and you can't, as a general propostion, get... More