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The Problem
First, let's start by talking about the concern. The easiest way to send an e-mail to a bunch of people is to just put the list of e-mail addresses in the "To" field (or the "Cc" field) and send the message. However, this is not the best way. When you do that, you're sending the entire recipient list to all recipients. This would be like your bank sending the names and addresses of all its customers to all its customers; sure it's only your name and address, but you still would not want them to do it. It's an invasion of your privacy.
Think about it for a second, if you're currently a member of any e-mail mailing list, or if you get regular newsletters e-mailed to you, you never see the entire list of recipients. They do this for a reason: to protect privacy.
When I've explained the above information to people, I've heard several excuses, including:
- "Well, all the people on my e-mail list know each other, so it's okay".
or
- "My recipeints' e-mail addresses are already published in a directory or on a web site, so it's okay."
Well, it's not okay. There are still several issues to consider:
- There are hackers on the internet who "sniff" out e-mail transmissions, looking for long lists of e-mail addresses. Your e-mail would be the perfect target, more so than if you only had one address in the "To" field. These hackers "harvest" the e-mail addresses from that list and then sell them to spammers.
- Have you ever actually opened an e-mail message that was sent to over 50 people? The first thing you see at the top of the window is a list of all of their names and e-mail addresses. What a mess, especially if it's a long list. All those names and addresses clutter your screen and you have to scroll past all that just to read the message.
- When you expose all of the recipients' e-mail addresses, it is very common for those recipients to send a reply right back to that entire list, when that reply should only go to the original sender. Also, many times, that reply is also copied to someone who is not on the original list, which means that the list has been distributed to someone outside the original list of recipients.
But, aside from the points I made above, there is one more important issue: some people just don't want their e-mail address given out like this. Period. They may have a good reason, they may not. But either way, you should feel a sense of obligation to respect their wishes. And since it's very easy to keep their address private, there is no reason not to.
The main thing to remember is that if you're maintaining an e-mail mailing list, or if you have a need to e-mail many people in your address book, you've got a big responsibility, and the privacy of all list members is in your hands.
The Solution
The solutions to this problem are very simple (and free).
There are two easy ways to protect the privacy of your mailing list members:
- When sending the e-mail, put your own e-mail address in the "To" field and put the list of recipients' e-mail addresses in the "Bcc" field. This insures that the list of recipients will not be viewed by all recipients. If you're not sure how to use the "Bcc" field, see your e-mail program's help file. I will tell you though, that in Outlook Express, you have to click the "View" menu and then click "All Headers" in order to see the Bcc field. Also, the following links may be helpful:
- If you send e-mail to that list of people often, setup a real mailing list. You can even use a free service like Yahoo Groups. This method is actually the easiest, because it allows people to maintain their own membership. If their e-mail address changes, they can change it on the list themselves. This also allows you to send your e-mail to a single address, and the list program handles the distribution to all members.
Both of the above solutions will insure the privacy of your list members.
Just be careful with #1. I've received e-mails where the sender accidentally put the list in the Cc field instead of the Bcc field. It was an honest mistake, but one that compromised the privacy of all list members.
Related Resources:
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