In the past, most courts have treated corporate computers, and anything on them, as company property. However, in recent rulings, courts have begun to investigate the circumstances around disclosure of policies to employees and other factors. For example:

• In New Jersey, an appeals court ruled that an employee of a home health-care company had a reasonable expectation that email sent on a personal account wouldn’t be read.
• In San Francisco, a federal appeals court ruled that employers that contract with an outside business to transmit text messages can’t read them unless the worker agrees.

While it is probably too early to make any sweeping generalizations about this trend, it certainly suggests that employers need to review their policies, practices and training to make sure they do not run afoul of this evolving issue.

How many times have you received an email that you probably should not have seen, only because the sender hit Reply All instead of just Reply.  In my practice, I have seen this time after time and on some occasions, the message sent has been very detrimental to the relationship or the transaction.  For example, while working on a contentious transaction, one of the parties on the other side intended to send an email to his colleague, but instead hit Reply All and broadcast his disgust for the seller to the entire working group.  On another occasion, I saw an email chain where an employee, intending only to reply to certain coworkers, hit Reply All and shared his critical comments on his boss with his boss and the rest of the company.

In addition to all the possible mistakes, how flooded is your in-box with multiple replies from a group email with a message like “Thanks.”  These seemingly simple (and unnecessary) responses can bog down an email system and frustrate an email user having to delete endless emails.

I believe that the ‘Reply All’ button should be removed from most if not all email devices.  In my opinion, the potential harm outweighs the benefit and I think a little thought going into replying to an email is a good thing.