I've actually been successful at arguing something like the opposite of
this.
Many corporations now assert this silly little hunk of text at the end of
every message claiming the email is private and such. A typical one is:
This message and any attachments to it may contain PROPRIETARY AND
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION exclusively for intended recipients. Please DO
NOT FORWARD OR DISTRIBUTE to anyone else. If you are not the
intended recipient, please contact the sender and delete all copies
of this e-mail from your system.
This is in direct violation of Note Well, which requires all documents,
including email to not contain proprietary or confidential information.
Further, since the email is sent to the IETF, which has a well established
policy of publicly posting all email sent to it, I have argued that unless
this warning is removed, it renders the admonition ineffective for the cases
it is wanted, since the sender obviously knows that what he is sending is
not confidential, is instantly forwarded, is immediately made public and to
claim otherwise means the sender is not actually serious about defending
truly private IP. Several lawyers have agreed, and forced the corporation
to allow removal of the postscript when sending to public lists, much to the
consternation of the IT folks who thought implementation of the IP notice
was simple.
Since complying with IETF IP policy is a condition of participation, and no
one is forced to participate, corporations can claim ownership, but cannot
claim confidentiality.
I also chuckle at the "delete all copies of this email" part. Most
corporations routinely backup inboxes, making this impossible for the
non-intended recipient to comply. I always compare this to the Hollywood
stars who will not answer a call without incoming CallerId, and always block
outgoing CallerId.
Do note that even post SOX, the notice on the email typically does not claim
ownership. Every company I know claims ownership of everything on their
systems, which would include, presumably, all incoming mail. So you always
have the dueling claims to fight over.
Brian
-----Original Message-----
From: todd glassey [mailto:tglassey(_at_)earthlink(_dot_)net]
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 6:44 PM
To: ietf(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
Subject: Flaw in the NOTEWell System makes NOTEWELL NOTWELL
Hi there Audit Fans - Lets look at NoteWell and figure out how it
interacts
with Corporate Governance and Compliance Policies...
let me make a couple of observations:
NOTEWELL http://www.ietf.org/NOTEWELL.html has some hidden requirements
that
make it broken. Let me illustrate...
1) All the major players who sponsor people in the IETF have an
iron-clad email policy which EVERYONE is aware of that says that they OWN
the IP emanating from their Email System. This is generally not negotiable
here in the US either. This means that they WILL NOT allow any releases
against IP sent from their Email Systems or Domain. The cannot - lest they
lose the control they have over the internal use of the servers which
might
seem fun to this group - but its something that NO EXECUTIVE is going to
allow.
2) The IETF however claims that any Email sent to it in any form
constitutes NOTEWELL and becomes its property. The problem is that it has
no
agreements with the other email provider to make that true.
3) The IETF also tries to protect itself by requiring the Individual
to
represent that they have formal authorization to participate in the IETF
through the Entity's resources, except that there is the issue of #1 which
NO entity in its right mind would consider relaxing...
So who actually owns the IP?
Better yet - can ANY SOX constrained company with public controls in place
on its internal services allow an Employee or Guest to use their
infrastructure to participate in a process that directly violates their
corporate operating guidelines?
???
Todd
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