Page 24 - Today’s Business Communication; A How-to Guide for the Modern Professional

CHAPTER 2

Why Must I Remember

That Nothing on the

Internet Ever Goes

Away Completely?

You’ll remember from Chapter 1 that there are many high-profile
professionals who have written things that got them into trouble—media
scandals, integrity losses, job losses, and so forth. You can imagine those
people would really like to travel back in time and not hit the send key on
those emails. And even when we delete messages that we don’t want the
world to see, people like Attorney Gambardella can hire IT forensics experts
to find them. Nathan Cutteridge, who is an IT specialist in the financial
services industry, explains that the latest version of Microsoft Exchange, a
mail server product commonly used by businesses and institutions around
the world, never really “forgets” anything. Just because you delete it from
your machine, the electronic file remains on the server.
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Can you imagine the nightmare of having an inappropriate joke, a
rant against a coworker, a NSFW (not suitable for work) jpeg, or a snide
comment about a supervisor being forever retrievable? Tanked careers and
sued companies and individuals would be the tip of the iceberg in such
a situation. The easiest thing to do is to simply write an email and let it
sit for a while in draft stage before sending. However, even drafts need
to be business appropriate in language and content. The Petraeus case
reminds us that deleted drafts can live on in Microsoft Exchange and
other server-based email systems. And, caution your friends and relatives
against sending you jokes to your workplace. The United States is a par-
ticularly sue-happy country, and many people may be offended by the
things that you or I might just laugh off as not bothersome.