The list of stupid email disclaimers

This file contains that actual list (with brief commentary) of the stupid email disclaimers. For discussion of the issues in general, see the main document on stupid email disclaimers.

Note: I have a large backlog of contributions to add to this list. Thanks to everyone who sent them. I will (eventually) reorganize this document so that I can update it more easily.

The list

All lists start small. Also, I would gladly publish any reasoned responses from any of the listed sites, justifying their disclaimers. If anyone wishes to send a response for publication, please explicitly state in it that I may publish it, as it is likely to come with a disclaimer barring that permission. Alternatively, I'd be happy to link to your response.

From Luton Sixth Form College, lutonsfc.ac.uk. Seen 2001-01-22.

This e-mail is intended for the addressee shown. It contains information that is confidential and protected from disclosure. Any review, dissemination or use of this transmission or its contents by persons or unauthorized employees of the intended organisations is strictly prohibited.
The contents of this email do not necessarily represent the views or policies of Luton Sixth Form College, its employees or students.
From The UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre appearently has (or had) the following disclaimer. I've just received the nomination, and I've sent a note off to them asking them to confirm (or deny) that that is their disclaimer. So this might be updated in a day or so. (If I don't get a response in a few days, I'll assume that the version I have is correct.)

This E-mail and any attachments are private, intended solely for the use of the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, they have been sent to you in error: any use of information in them is strictly prohibited.
The employer reserves the right to monitor the content of the message and any reply received.

As to the second paragraph, it is probably within their right to do that, and maybe one should give them credit for being explicit about it. But it certainly doesn't speak well of the organization.
From Paisner & Co who appear to have the longest (and not surprisingly the most legalistic) of these that I've seen. I was thinking of starting a ridiculously long category when I saw this one.
Again, note that this one is not yet confirmed. But I am currently seeking confirmation on this. That is I only have a report about this disclaimer. I haven't seen it myself, nor received confirmation from Paisner & Co that they do stamp that on all outgoing email. I assume that since their address and telephone numbers are listed on their website, they have no objection to my republishing them here.

Paisner & Co
Bouverie House
154 Fleet Street
London EC4A 2JD

DX 198 Chancery Lane
t: +44 (0)20 7353 0299
f: +44 (0)20 7583 8621

The information in this email is confidential. The contents may not be disclosed or used by anyone other than the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify us immediately at the above address.
Paisner & Co cannot accept any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of this message as it has been transmitted over a public network. If you suspect that the message may have been intercepted or amended, please call the sender.
The above address is the principal place of business at which a list of Partners' names is available.
Regulated by The Law Society under the Financial Services Act 1986.

Except for the typical silly "information in this email is confidential" bit, the rest actually makes some sort of sense. But it is stuck with the "addressee" problem. I would hardly be surprised if they also put (most) of that on their paper correspondence. What makes this email appendage particularly silly is its length. Though, they should get some credit for pointing out that email can easily be tampared with. I wonder if they use PGP?
From Friends Ivory & Sime we have what is the longest one so far. This has been confirmed now (2000-01-23) by autoresponse. As you see the disclaimer advertises an address to get the full disclaimer. The full disclaimer has the email appendage on it. So I got to read it twice. Of course I don't really know that the confirmation is real, because I don't have "subsequent written confirmation". So it may be a terrible mistake for me to act on it. I did get it twice however.

This e-mail is private and confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended for recipients only and access by others is unauthorised. It is not intended to be relied upon without subsequent written confirmation of its contents. Accordingly Friends Ivory & Sime plc, its subsidiaries and its associated company Ivory & Sime TrustLink Ltd disclaim all responsibility and accept no liability (including in negligence) for the consequences of any person acting, or refraining from acting, on such information prior to the receipt by those persons of subsequent written confirmation. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on the information in this e-mail is prohibited and may be unlawful.
If you have received this e-mail message in error please also notify our Compliance Department at compliance@friendsis.com. Please delete this message from your computer and destroy any copies which have been made.
Friends Ivory & Sime plc, its subsidiaries (detailed below) and its associated company, Ivory & Sime TrustLink Ltd are part of the Friends Provident Group.
Friends Ivory & Sime plc
Registered in Scotland, Company No. 73508
Regulated in the UK by IMRO and in the USA by the SEC.
Ivory & Sime TrustLink Ltd
Registered in Scotland, Company No. 151198
Regulated in the UK by the Personal Investment Authority
Friends Ivory & Sime, Inc is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Friends Ivory & Sime plc and is regulated in the USA by the SEC.
Friends Ivory & Sime Trust Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Friends Ivory & Sime plc and is regulated in the USA by NYSBD.
Ivory & Sime (Asia) Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Friends Ivory & Sime plc and is regulated in Hong Kong by the SFC.
The registered office of Friends Ivory & Sime plc is
One Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, EH2 4DZ
Telephone 0131 465 1000
The full email disclaimer, which includes addresses and telephone numbers for each of the above subsidiary companies, can be obtained by emailing disclaimer@friendsis.com

I'm still catching my breath. I do think that it is not entirely inappropriate for financial institutions to have some sort of disclaimer or legal statements. But there must be some limit, mustn't there? This one suffers from a number of problems pointed out. Including, as most, the "addressee vs intended recipient" problem, but this one has the clearest case of the contradiction of acting to remove and warning that action is prohibited.
Credit Suisse appearently adds the following. I can't reproduce the original formating (very long lines) without rendering this page illegible. They appear to have some funny ideas about line breaks and line lengths in email. Probably inherited from using Microsoft Outhouse.
This is as yet unconfirmed.
This message is for the named person's use only. It may contain confidential, proprietary or legally privileged information. No confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any mistransmission. If you receive this message in error, please immediately delete it and all copies of it from your system, destroy any hard copies of it and notify the sender. You must not, directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute, print, or copy any part of this message if you are not the intended recipient. CREDIT SUISSE GROUP and each of its subsidiaries each reserve the right to monitor all e-mail communications through its networks. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the message states otherwise and the sender is authorised to state them to be the views of any such entity. Unless otherwise stated, any pricing information given in this message is indicative only, is subject to change and does not constitute an offer to deal at any price quoted. Any reference to the terms of executed transactions should be treated as preliminary only and subject to our formal written confirmation.

As with the previous ones, some of this makes sense for a financial institution. And while this reads like verbal diarrhea, it actually contains some of the "opt-outs" I've mentioned (copious use of "Unless otherwise stated"). But it still has that silly confidentiality bit.
This one shows how thoughtfully and carefully these notices are constructed. The person who submitted it reassured me that he quoted it verbatim and in its entirety.
Please visit our website at http://www.killik.co.uk for the free Daily View and other Internet Services such as online dealing and research.
This document should only be read by those persons to whom it is addressed and is not intended to be relied upon by any person without subsequent written confirmation of its contents. Accordingly, Killik & Co disclaim all responsibility and accept no liability (including in negligence) for the consequences of any person acting, or refraining from acting, on such information prior to the receipt by those persons of subsequent written confirmation. If you have received this E-mail message in error, please notify us immediately by telephone on (+44) 0207 337 0400 - please also destroy and delete the message from your computer. Any form of reproduction, dissemination, copying, disclosure, modification, distribution and/or publication of this E-mail message
All I've done is remove the rows of stars used as separators, otherwise I have quoted verbatim and in its entirety. Pay close attention to the
Here's one a kindly reader submitted from newsint.co.uk. It is the standard sort of thing:
The information in this email is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful.

Well if newsint thinks that my publishing of this is prohibited (or that the person who forwarded to me acted unlawfully, they can get in touch.
And here is another typical one, which someone submitted (as yet unconfirmed) from the University of North London. You would think that people in universities would show more sense and be less slaves to stupid fashions.
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system administrator - postmaster@unl.ac.uk
Any views or opinions expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender and do not necessarily coincide with those of the University.
This footnote confirms that this email message has been swept by VSWEEP for the presence of computer viruses.
This one came in an autoresponse to a message I posted to a email discussion list. So centrica.co.uk does not display high-levels of email clufulness to begin with.
"The information contained in or attached to this email is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, or a person responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are not authorised to and must not disclose, copy, distribute, or retain this message or any part of it. It may contain information which is confidential and/or covered by legal professional or other privilege (or other rules or laws with similar effect in jurisdictions outside England and Wales).
The views expressed in this email are not necessarily the views of Centrica plc, and the company, its directors, officers or employees make no representation or accept any liability for its accuracy or completeness unless expressly stated to the contrary."
This one was actually posted to a mailing list dealing with email management. But it was posted in such a list-unfriendly way, I missed it the first time, until someone drew my attention to it. I have fixed the terrible line breaking it had.
--------------------------
Xexec Limited
Suite 8, Arkleigh Mansions
200 Brent Street
London
England
--------------------------

Please note: If you received this email in error, or you are not the addressee, you may be committing a crime under UK law if you do not destroy this message, delete any copies and inform the sender. Please report unexpected emails immediately to sjb_xexec@hotmail.com
Any information contained in this email, including the signature, is private and confidential. It may also be legally privileged or contain legally privileged information. You may not send this email to non-concerned parties. It is not to be relied upon by any person other than the addressee except with our prior written approval. If no such approval is given, we will not accept any liability (in negligence or otherwise) arising from any third party acting, or refraining from acting, on such information. Unauthorised recipients are required to maintain confidentiality. By reading this, you agree to abide by these rules. Failure to comply with this request, under both UK law and the judicial systems of other jurisdictions, may result in a fine, a term in jail, or both.
This message may be digitally signed to ensure authenticity, proof of ownership and security. This is for the protection both of the recipient and of Xexec. If your email client is unable to support this feature, please disregard any attached, unreadable file.
To its credit it did have an S/MIME signature.
Someone passed this to me:
This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the named recipients only. If you have received this e-mail in error do not open or copy it but return it to us. We cannot accept liability for any loss or damage sustained as a result of software viruses.
The submitter of this one pointed out that the disclaimer was at the bottom of the message, so that it is actually impossible to see this disclaimer without "opening" the misdirected message. Unfortunately the submitter didn't tell me where this was from.

Just in case you wondered how well these disclaimers were respected legal professionals at sites which add their own, here is a case where some joke made the rounds of City solicitors (that's "London lawyers"), each adding their own disclaimer. Because they didn't quote or attribute clearly, it is almost impossible to tell where one disclaimer ends and the next begins.

>  ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>  This is an email from Charles Russell Solicitors. The contents of this
>  email are confidential to the ordinary user of the email address to
>  which it is was addressed. No-one else may place any reliance upon it,
>  or
>  copy or forward all or any of it in any form.
>  Our postal address is 8-10 New Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1RS, at which
>  address a list of our partners may be inspected.
>  If you receive this email in error, please accept our apology. We should
>  be obliged if you would telephone our postmaster on +44 (0)20 7203 5151
>  or
>  email postmaster@cr-law.co.uk.
>
>
>  ************************************************************************
>  This firm is regulated by the Law Society in the conduct of investment
>  business.  A list of partners is available for inspection at Olswang, 90
>  Long Acre, London, WC2E 9TT.   This e-mail is intended only for the
>  above named addressee/s. This e-mail may be confidential or legally
>  privileged.  If you have received this e-mail and you are not a named
>  addressee, please delete it from your system and contact the Olswang
>  IT department on +44 020 7208 8888 (x8422). Visit our website at
>  www.olswang.com

 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 IMPORTANT:  We are now at www.olswang.com
 Please replace .co.uk with .com in our
 website and email addresses.
 
 All London telephone numbers changed on 22 April 2000.
 Olswang's switchboard number is +44 20 7208 8888 and
 fax is +44 20 7208 8800.
 Please amend your records to reflect the new number.
 
 Other UK telephone numbers have changed as well.
 Please see http://www.thebignumber.co.uk for more
 information.
 
 -----------------------------------------
 This message has been checked for all known viruses by UUNET delivered
 through the MessageLabs Virus Control Centre. For further information
 visit
 http://www.uk.uu.net/products/security/virus/
 
 
 This message is confidential and may be covered by legal professional
 privilege.  If you have received this message in error, please delete
 it from your system. If you require assistance, please contact our
 London IT helpdesk.  Thank you.
 (e-mail helpdesk@herbertsmith.com; phone +44 (0)20 7333 8888).
 
 
 Herbert Smith is an international law firm with offices in London,
 Bangkok, Beijing, Brussels, Hong Kong, Moscow, Paris, Singapore and
 Tokyo.  Further information about the firm, and a list of the
 partners and their professional qualifications, is available from
 Exchange House, Primrose Street, London EC2A 2HS, any of our offices
 and from our website at http://www.herbertsmith.com/

 -------------------------------------
 This message has been checked for all known viruses by UUNET delivered
 through the MessageLabs Virus Control Centre. For further information
 visit
 http://www.uk.uu.net/products/security/virus/

 -------------------------------------
 This email is confidential and may be privileged;  it is for use of the
 named recipient(s) only.  If you have received it in error, please notify
 us immediately; please do not copy or disclose its contents to any person
 or body, and delete it from your computer systems.
 
 BDO Stoy Hayward firms operate from 37 offices across the United Kingdom.
 A list of partners' names is open to inspection at each office of the
 firm.
 All BDO Stoy Hayward firms are authorised to carry on investment business
 by the Institutes of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, in
 Ireland
 or of Scotland, or the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. The
 name of the appropriate authorising body can be obtained on request from
 each office.

I haven't (yet) taken the trouble to contact all the sites implicated there to inform them of their listing here. To date, I have had zero responses from any site that I have informed, so it doesn't really seem to be worth the trouble.

This one, from the someone posting from scotborders.gov.uk was sent to a mailing list which is publically archived on the web. The particular message can be found on jiscmail archive. So much for the information in the message being "privileged [and] confidential"
This e-mail is privileged, confidential and subject to copyright. Any unauthorised use or disclosure of its contents is prohibited. The views expressed in this communication may not necessarily be the views held by the Scottish Borders Council.
Another one, from southglos.gov.uk was posted to the same mailing list as above.
This e-mail and any files transmitted with it from South Gloucestershire Council are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the South Gloucestershire Council postmaster at the address below.
This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses.
Postmaster@southglos.gov.uk
And yet more from the jiscmail.ac.uk mailing list. This one is nearly identical to others that we've seen. I guess bad memes travel in clumps. This one is from uk.mckhboc.com.
The information contained in this e-mail is confidential and is intended only for the named recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient you must not copy, distribute, or take any action or reliance on it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender. Any unauthorised disclosure of the information contained in this e-mail is strictly prohibited.
Here is one from Barclay Card. It does make sense for financial institutions to place some warnings about the integrety of email, etc. But this disclaimer actually suggests that all it takes to make the content of an email message legally binding is to declare it as such.
From: customer.services@barclaycard.co.uk
Legal Disclaimer:-
Please be aware that messages sent over the Internet may not be secure and should not be seen as forming a legally binding contract unless otherwise stated.
So if the mere declaration of something being legally binding makes it so, I so declare as legally binding that Barclay Card owes me the publication rights to all of their Rowan Atkinson adverts.
Here is one from spicers.ltd.uk which someone kindly submitted.
This e-mail message is intended solely for the person to whom it is addressed and may contain confidential or privileged information. If you have received it in error, please notify us immediately and destroy this e-mail and any attachments. In addition, you must not disclose, copy, distribute or take any action in reliance on this e-mail or any attachments.
Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company. E-mail may be susceptible to data corruption, interception, unauthorised amendment, viruses and unforeseen delays, and we do not accept liability for any such data corruption, interception, unauthorised amendment, viruses and delays or the consequences thereof. Accordingly, this e-mail and any attachments are opened at your own risk.
Spicers Ltd.
--------------------------------------------------------
Registered in England, Registration No. 425809
Here is one that was appended to spam! I suppose that it was trying to make the message look more like a normal business letter than spam. The email was spamvertizing a company called NQLI, and the contact address was David Gomez <david.gomez@nqli.com>.
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION: The information contained in this electronic transmission, and any documents attached hereto, may contain confidential information that is legally privileged and confidential. The information is intended only for the use of the recipient(s) named above. If you have received this electronic message in error, please notify the sender and delete the electronic message. Any disclosure, copying, distribution or the taking of any action in reliance on the contents of the information received in error is strictly prohibited.
This is one of my favorites. A broken Lotus Notes autoresponder at ICI sent out an unwanted "vacation message" with the disclaimer attached:
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
This email is confidential, may be legally privileged, and is for the intended recipient only. Access, disclosure, copying, distribution, or reliance on any of it by anyone else is prohibited and may be a criminal offence. Please delete if obtained in error and email confirmation to the sender.
Now the person who got this autoreponse "obtained in error" dutifully deleted the message and emailed "confirmation to the sender" as instructed.
That resulted in another autoresponse (which is an error as autoresponders shouldn't behave that way), so the recipient deleted the new message and emailed confirmation of that to the to sender. That resulted in yet a third autoresponse optained in error, which of course prompted yet a third deletion and confirmation request. At some point, our hero gave up his attempt to follow the instructions in the important notice.
An open spam relay run by Worthit.com appends this disclaimer to all the spam it relays.
This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required please request a hard-copy version. Worth International Communications Corp., 5979 NW 151st Street, Ste 120, Miami Lakes, FL, 33014, www.recommend.com
Oddly their disclaimer doesn't disclaim any responsibilty for allowing massive spam through their network.
Someone submitted this from Nomura International
PLEASE READ: The information contained in this e-mail is confidential and intended for the named recipient(s) only. If you are not an intended recipient of this email you must not copy, distribute or take any further action in reliance on it and you should delete it and notify the sender immediately. Email is not a secure method of communication and Nomura International plc cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of this message or any attachment(s). Please examine this e-mail for virus infection, for which Nomura International plc accepts no responsibility. If verification of this email is sought then please request a hard copy. Unless otherwise stated any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Nomura International plc. This email is intended for informational purposes only and is not a solicitation or offer to buy or sell securities or related financial instruments. Nomura International plc is regulated by the Securities and Futures Authority Limited and is a member of the London Stock Exchange.

Version: $Revision: 1.4 $
Last Modified: $Date: 2001/12/09 21:53:43 $ GMT
Author: Jeffrey Goldberg