Email blunderGuardian link http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1986601,00.html Can't find the Telegraph link. Martin Wainwright comments in his piece: "Gloucestershire police apologised yesterday for the quip, which showed a relatively light touch compared to Page's own remarks (over an allegedly racist outburst at a pro-hunting rally) in Frampton on Severn which got him into trouble in the first place." I think that in this particular case, you might possibly say, if you can't stand the heat don't go into the kitchen (but Tim is right). Nick Landau ----- Original Message ----- From: Tim Turner To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 1:06 PM Subject: [data-protection] Email blunder A lesson for all: don't write stupid things about people in emails. Robin Page, farming campaigner, has made a request under "information laws" (I read in somewhere else that it was Data Protection, but today's Guardian says FOI - I suspect it was DP) for files held by Gloucestershire Police. To their credit, Gloucester provided Mr Page with, among other things, an email in which a frustrated copper writes that he hopes Mr Page gets eaten by a crocodile whilst on holiday. It was clearly a joke, but it's probably not a good idea to make such jokes in emails about anybody, especially not someone who has access to the mass media. Anyway, Mr Page is looking for compensation which he may not get, but if you're looking for examples to remind your staff why they should think before writing emails. The story is covered in today's Guardian, but I think it was in either Saturday or Sunday's Telegraph as well - search their websites if you want more. Tim Turner Data Protection / FOI Officer Legal and Property Services Wigan Council ********************************************************************** 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 manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses using Sophos anti-virus software. www.mimesweeper.com www.sophos.com ********************************************************************** All archives of messages are stored permanently and are available to the world wide web community at large at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html Selected commands (the command has been filled in below in the body of the email if you are receiving emails in HTML format): Leaving this list: send leave data-protection to [log in to unmask] Suspending emails from all JISCMail lists: send SET * NOMAIL to [log in to unmask] To receive emails from this list in text format: send SET data-protection NOHTML to [log in to unmask] To receive emails from this list in HTML format: send SET data-protection HTML to [log in to unmask] All user commands can be found at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm and are sent in the body of an otherwise blank email to [log in to unmask] Any queries about sending or receiving messages please send to the list owner [log in to unmask] (Please send all commands to [log in to unmask] not the list or the moderators, and all requests for technical help to [log in to unmask], the general office helpline) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ All archives of messages are stored permanently and are available to the world wide web community at large at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html If you wish to leave this list please send the command leave data-protection to [log in to unmask] All user commands can be found at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm Any queries about sending or receiving messages please send to the list owner [log in to unmask] Full help Desk - please email [log in to unmask] describing your needs To receive these emails in HTML format send the command: SET data-protection HTML to [log in to unmask] (all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^