People have become hypersensitive about their privacy during the last few years. They now expect that their details will be used only for the purposes for which they have been provided and not shared by original trustees. This is especially true of email addresses because of the huge volume of unsolicited commercial email (spam) circulating the web. Despite this, numbers of people using email unwittingly reveal the email addresses of other people to whom they are sending email.
Blind Carbon Copy
The term Blind Carbon Copy is a hangover from the dim, dark ages before word processors when we used typewriters (some of you have probably never seen a typewriter).
It was a somewhat messy, but proficient process. When one wanted to send an original letter to one person and copies to several other people without showing each recipient who the other recipients were, a BCC annotation was made on the original. Each copy displayed only the name and address of the individual recipient, but the BCC notation on the original showed to whom the copies had been mailed.
Some email programs allow you to enter email addresses into the BCC field and send them. When you do that each recipient receives your message, but the names of other recipients are not displayed.
That is why they are called ‘blind’ – they are not seen.
By using the BCC feature you preserve the identities of those who are on your mailing list and ensure that anyone receiving your email cannot email your list or harvest their email addresses and sell them.
Please Remember:
It is Important to remove all personal email when forwarding items from this, or any other list to individuals or other discussion groups (unless the message asks readers to contact them via email or phone).
Remember, a lot of us have a great deal of information in our sigs (signature files) that appear at the bottom of many of our messages.
E-mailers should also cut out email addresses from forwards when forwarding the message on. I know I have received unsolicited emails from individuals who have gotten my address via a forwarded message from this group. Although more annoying than serious, it could have been worse.
iT’S TRUE – IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS, CHANGE HOW YOU SEND E-MAIL. THIS IS A TRUE CONCERN OF MANY PEOPLE.
PAY ATTENTION, READ TO THE END.
Many times friends on e-mail ask me about me using the Bcc address on e-mails and commenting about my e-mails not ha ng long lists of other e-mail addresses where the e-mail had been sent prior to me receiving it.
Please read all of this and you will understand why I do things the way I do. Also this is not a fake or ridiculous idea from a crank.
Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Do you hate it?
Every time you forward an e-mail there is information left over from the people that got the message before you – namely their e-mail addresses. As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his computer can send that virus to every e-mail address that has come across his computer.
Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents.
That’s right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel.
How do you stop it?
Well, there are two easy steps:
1) When you forward an email, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message.
That’s right, delete them. Highlight them; then delete them, backspace them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second.
2) Whenever you send an e-mail, don’t use the “To:” or “Cc:” columns for adding email addresses. Use the “Bcc:” or “blind carbon copy” column for sending the message. This way the people that you send to only see their own email address.
If you don’t see your “Bcc:” option, click on where it says “To:” and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and click “Bcc:”. When you “select recipients” you can put the recipients in the “Bcc” box instead of the “To” box.
And that’s it – it’s that easy
This should be forwarded (MINUS my email address!) to everyone on your e-mail list who does not use “Bcc.” And this should also confirm why you >should “clean-up” your e-mails.
Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers
Reference:
http://www.marketingsource.com/articles/view/3331
http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hoaxes/hoaxDetails.asp?HName=Using+BCC+when+Forwarding+Emails+Hoax
DEV